World Athletics president and Olympics great Sebastian Coe left no doubt where he stood on the premise of the Enhanced Games and what it would mean for participants including Australian swim great James Magnussen, labelling the concept “bollocks” and the athletes “moronic”.

The Enhanced Games is being sold as a proposed Olympic-style event that will allow athletes to use banned substances, and Magnussen is set to reap a $1m windfall should be able to break the 50m freestyle world record.

Magnussen, a world champion and Olympic silver medallist long retired from official competition, and anyone else who signs up for the Enhance Games are well aware they would be breaking every anti-doping rule.

But Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and the long-time head of the athletics governing body, went a step further, questioning the merits of the event that is claiming to “push the limits of humanity”.

“Well it’s bollocks, isn’t it?” Coe said on Thursday at a press conference ahead of this weekend’s world indoor athletics championships in Glasgow.

“There’s only one message and that is if anybody is moronic enough to feel that they want to take part in that, and they are from the traditional, philosophical end of our sport, they’ll get banned and they’ll get banned for a long time.”

Magnussen agreed to take performance-enhancing drugs to make an attempt at beating Cesar Cielo’s 15-year-old 50m freestyle world record at the behest of Enhanced Games founder, Australian Aron D’Souza.

“I’ll juice to the gills and I’ll break it in six months,” Magnussen said.

He remains the only athlete of note to sign up for the Enhanced Games and Coe, a fierce anti-doping advocate, did not mince his words with his dismissal of the event, adamant it would have little impact on official events.

“I’m sure there are crazy things happening in other sectors, we occasionally get them,” he said.

“I really don’t get sleepless nights over it. It’s not going to be a page turner, is it?”

Up to seven Enhanced Games qualifying events will be staged this December around the world, including Australia, with swimming and diving among track and field athletics, weightlifting, gymnastics and combat sports disciplines.