Suddenly, the Enhanced Games feels very, very real.
Until this point, the Enhanced Games had something of a cartoonish feel to it - very few athletes had signed up and the vast majority of the commentary around its existence was disparaging.
The criticism was predictable given what the Enhanced Games is.
It is, in short, a sporting event in which anti-doping rules are thrown in the bin and athletes can take, pretty much, whatever substances they like in order to improve their performance.
With the only sports included in the programme of the inaugural Enhanced Games, which is slated to take place in May 2026, being swimming, sprinting and weightlifting, it’s not going to be even close to an Olympic-sized event. And, prior to this week, the list of athletes who had signed up to be a part of the Enhanced Games was extremely short, with the highest profile being former Australian swimmer, James Magnussen who is a former world champion but retired from swimming back in 2019.
So given these factors, it’s little surprise that the Enhanced Games was seen, at best, as little more than a gimmick. Despite its small scale and lack of star power, though, critics have remained vociferous about the dangers of allowing athletes to dope, and the damage the event’s existence does to clean sport.
In the space of one announcement, made earlier this week, though, the slant on the Enhanced Games has changed entirely.
Ben Proud is one of Britain’s best-ever swimmers.
He’s been in the GB team since 2013 and career highlights include two world titles, three European titles and an Olympic silver medal, with the latter won as recently as last summer.
As a person, by all accounts, Proud is reserved, quiet and the most unlikely possible candidate for the Enhanced Games.
Yet, this week, Proud did what no one saw coming; he announced he’d joined the Enhanced Games, which is the brainchild of Australian businessman, Aron D’Souza.
Proud’s initial statement talked about his intrigue in testing the boundaries of what’s physically possible but it soon became clear that much of these initial mutterings were not quite the whole story about why he’s joined the Enhanced Games.
Within 24 hours of Proud announcing he’d signed up for the Enhanced Games and, simultaneously, ended his professional swimming career, the real truth as to his motivation began to emerge.
He did it, in short, for the money.
Certainly, the money on offer is not insignificant. If Proud can better the current, official world record of 20.91sec, held by César Cielo Filho, of Brazil, he’ll pocket $1 million. And it has to be assumed he’s on a healthy retainer, too. So it’s big money.
Proud’s argument is that he dedicated his adult life to being an elite swimmer and he’s left it with very little financial security.
“There are frustrations, Britain being one of the very few countries that doesn’t offer any sort of bonus for [winning a medal at] the Olympics,” the 30-year-old told The Times.
“It just becomes this kind of outdated system where we, as athletes, are meant to do it for the joy of the medals. That is true. We do. And we receive huge support to get there. But there is no monetary value if you perform well at the Games. To be honest, it came as a bit of a shock to me a couple of months after the Games that actually there was nothing.”
The lack of financial reward is an interesting gripe for Proud.
I don’t know a single athlete who got into sport, particularly a sport that’s considered “minority”, for the money. Never once, in becoming an Olympian, did I even notice the lack of remuneration, never mind moan about it. Most athletes feel the same.
But despite this lack of desire from most athletes to make fortunes from running round a track, cycling in a circle or swimming up and down a pool, this doesn’t negate the point that Olympic athletes, more often than not, finish their careers in an extremely precarious financial position.
Swimming is not Premier League football, it’s not tennis nor golf nor even athletics. You know you’re very, very unlikely to end your swimming career as a millionaire, or even well-off. So there is part of me that empathises with Proud’s financial complaints, and his desire to make enough that he can support the family he and his wife want to start in the near future.
Within a year or two of being part of the Enhanced Games, Proud will have the financial security that he so craved during his professional career.
So, in that respect, his decision is understandable, if not justifiable.
But at what cost has this financial security come?
A huge cost, is the answer.
Proud, instantly, has trashed his legacy. He may not be breaking any laws - these drugs he’ll be taking are only banned in elite sport, they’re not illegal - but this single decision has now clouded literally everything else the Englishman has done in his sport.
And it’s also made some observers now question how clean he actually was as athlete. If he’s willing to put these drugs into his body now (although Proud has skirted around the question of what, exactly he’ll take to enhance his performance), can we be certain he wasn’t doing any of it when he was competing? No.
And then there’s the safety aspect of how can taking a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs be considered entirely safe, even though Proud insists his programme will be monitored closely by medical professionals.
So the Englishman may be making a few quid, but he’s losing out in so many other areas as a result of this decision.
From the Enhanced Games’ point of view, they’ve got exactly what they wanted from this announcement; a heap of publicity, a considerably more attractive product and a truly world-class athlete on their roster.
The saddest thing about Proud’s move is that it does lend the Enhanced Games an air of legitimacy. With no big names signed up, the Enhanced Games was a toxic product. Now, with Proud joining, the whole thing suddenly becomes far more legitimate. My guess is that before next May, and as a direct result of Proud’s participation, more than few high-profile names will join the Englishman on the roster.
I’m not as enraged by the Enhanced Games as some others, who believe the Enhanced Games is a threat to clean sport. I see it more as a separate entity that while pretty distasteful, also carried with it considerable intrigue.
Certainly, the more names of Proud’s ilk who sign up, the greater global interest there’ll be in the event next year.
I remain ambivalent as to the existence of the Enhanced Games, but what I do dislike intensely is the message that’s being sent to young athletes; if you want to be Olympic champion then great, go down the professional route. But if you want to make money, then it has to be the Enhanced Games all the way.
It’s not a choice that should be having to be made.
Perhaps this will force elite sport to take a look at itself and realise that without the athletes, the sport is nothing. And maybe paying them a few more quid is both manageable, and wise.
