Shane Ryan caused quite the splash in Irish swimming on Monday when announcing he has committed to competing in the Enhanced Games.
The first Irish swimmer to compete in three Olympics, Ryan retired from international competition only last week but has set his sights on the new sporting event that openly allows and encourages the use of otherwise banned performance-enhancing drugs.
“After a decade dedicated to traditional competition on the world’s highest stage, I’m excited to dive into this next chapter with the Enhanced Games,” said the 31-year-old Ryan. “I’ve always wanted to know the absolute maximum of what my body is truly capable of.”
Swim Ireland, Sport Ireland and the Olympic Federation of Ireland (OFI) were all quick to express their utter disapproval and disappointment at Ryan’s decision to go anywhere near the Enhanced Games, Sport Ireland stating the event “risks compromising athlete wellbeing and sends an insidious message, especially to all young athletes”.
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So what is the exact idea and purpose behind the Enhanced Games?
The instantly controversial idea was dreamed up by London-based Australian businessman Aron D’Souza back in 2022, inspired in part by his own observation that many people in gyms were using anabolic steroids to maximise their potential.
With that, D’Souza decided to create a sporting event that would both allow and encourage the use of these otherwise banned performance-enhancing drugs, a sort of model for the new “super humanity”, in the process ripping up the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code.
“Athletes are adults, and they have a right to do with their body what they wish,” he said. “And no government, no paternalistic sports federation, should be making those decisions for athletes.”
Although the event was promptly dubbed the Steroid Olympics, D’Souza managed to get some hefty financial backing, including from businessman Donald Trump jnr, although initial details of the games remained sketchy.
Undeterred by the glaring opposition from international sporting bodies, D’Souza pressed on, and in May of this year, a press event in Las Vegas confirmed the first Enhanced Games are set to take place back in the Nevada city from May 24th, 2026, at a purpose-built competition complex at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Which sporting events will be ‘enhanced’?
Originally the idea was to feature five categories: athletics, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics and combat sports. These have been trimmed back to just three: athletics, swimming and weightlifting. There will be a four-lane pool and six-lane track.
There will be three athletics events (the 100m, 100m/110m hurdles, and a “sprint showcase”), five swimming events (including the 50m and 100m freestyle) and two in weightlifting (the snatch and the clean-and-jerk).
Any athlete they sign up will receive an appearance fee, each individual event will carry a total prize purse of $500,000 (€433,000), with $250,000 awarded to first place. There will also be a $1 million bonus for breaking world records in the 100m sprint and 50m freestyle – “recognised as the definitive tests of raw human speed”.
Doesn’t all this present a serious health risk to the athletes?
Exactly, although the Enhanced Games organisers insist there is a strict “performance-enhancement protocol” with two independent commissions, one medical and one scientific, that will help guide athletes to safely and effectively take performance-enhancing drugs.
Class A drugs such as cocaine are not permitted, and, for insurance reasons, only substances approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be allowed.
In addition, the Enhanced Games organisers plan to sell performance-enhancing drugs such as testosterone via their website, again encouraging their use as part of their “mission to redefine super humanity through science, innovation and sports”.
No wonder the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were among the first to object, calling the Enhanced Games a “betrayal of everything that we stand for”, while Wada warned that anyone who gets involved could still be banned under their anti-doping code.
Who are some of the other athletes they have signed up so far?
Other top swimmers to commit are James Magnussen from Australia, and Britain’s Ben Proud, who won silver in the 50m freestyle at last year’s Paris Olympics, and said: “I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way. I definitely don’t think that’s undermining a clean sport.”
Four-time Greek Olympic swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev has also signed up. In May, he claimed to have broken the 50m freestyle world record at an unofficial event organised by the Enhanced Games, while using performance-enhancing drugs and wearing the all-body swim suit banned by swimming since 2010.
In athletics, the only big name to so far sign up is US sprinter Fred Kerley, currently provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for whereabouts failures. He said the “only thing about signing up to this game is to make money, protect my future”.
Has the event any prospect of catching on?
Travis Tygart, the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, called it a clown show, and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe described it as “b****cks, isn’t it?” – adding that “if anybody is moronic enough to officially take part in it, and they are in the traditional part of our sport, they’ll get banned for a long time. But I really don’t get sleepless nights about it.”
Swim Ireland expressed their disappointment at Ryan’s decision and “can advise that in line with his retirement in October he is no longer associated with Swim Ireland’s national team and further to that, will not be provided with any funding or services by the NGB going forward”.
In their statement, the OFI said Ryan is moving into an area that “stands in direct opposition to our core clean sport values – values that underpin the Olympic movement, Irish sport and the world anti-doping code, values that we all have a duty to uphold.”
Sport Ireland added: “Performance-enhancing drugs aren’t just banned because they can give athletes an unfair advantage. Many are banned because they can seriously harm athletes’ health ... In extreme cases, athletes have died from using these dangerous drugs.”
That may or may not be the outcome of the Enhanced Games, but it’s a terrifying possibility that should be enough to frighten off any athlete in their right mind, no matter the size of the cash prize on offer.
