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IRISH OLYMPIAN SHANE Ryan has hit the headlines after he became the latest athlete to sign up for the Enhanced Games, a new and highly controversial sports event that lets competitors take performance-enhancing drugs.
31-year-old US-born Irish swimmer Ryan announced his decision last night, just days after retiring from competitive swimming.
A three-time Olympian, who has picked up bronze medals in previous World and European swimming championships, he said he wanted to explore “the absolute maximum” of what his body could do at the Enhanced Games – a new sporting event backed by some pretty controversial figures, including Donald Trump Jr. and Peter Thiel.
“With the focus on athlete health, safety, and transparency, I finally get that chance,” Ryan said.
“I’m ready to embrace this new era and hopefully smash my personal bests and challenge the World Records.”
But the “new era” he’s talking about has already drawn fierce backlash from anti-doping authorities and governing sports bodies, many of whom see it as a dangerous undermining of everything competitive sport stands for.
The Enhanced Games have billed themselves as a “better version” of the Olympics – a multi-sport event where elite athletes can use banned substances in the pursuit of record-breaking performance.
The project was founded by Aron D’Souza, an Australian entrepreneur with a background in law and venture capital.
D’Souza argues that athletes should have full autonomy over their own bodies, including the right to take substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
His vision, he says, is one where “science and sport unite,” and where human enhancement is celebrated rather than punished.
Critics call it something else entirely: a glorified doping free-for-all.
The first Games are set to take place over four days in Las Vegas in May next year.
Unlike the Olympics, which feature dozens of disciplines, the Enhanced Games will begin with a small slate of events, including short-course swimming, sprinting, and weightlifting.
Organisers have promised cash prizes of up to $1 million for breaking world records.
It’s worth noting that these records won’t count, as the Games aren’t formally recognised by any international sporting body.
Despite this, organisers claim the event will showcase “the true potential of the human body” when freed from anti-doping restrictions.
Alongside Shane Ryan, several high-profile athletes have signed on.
Ben Proud, Britain’s 2024 Olympic silver medallist in the 50m freestyle, announced his retirement from “traditional swimming” to join the Enhanced Games.
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev, who swam 50m freestyle faster than the official world record during a demonstration event for the Enhanced Games earlier this year, will be taking part in the event next year.
Ukrainian swimmer Andriy Govorov, Bulgarian European medallist Josif Miladinov, and Australia’s James Magnussen, a former world champion, have also joined.
On the track, US sprinter Fred Kerley, an Olympic silver and bronze medallist, became the first athlete to have previously represented America to sign up.
For now, the Enhanced Games remain a niche experiment, not a rival to the Olympics. The 2026 event is expected to feature hundreds of athletes at most, rather than the tens of thousands who compete at major championships.
The project has drawn funding from a group of high-profile investors, most notably Donald Trump Jr. and Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal.
Both men have expressed interest in ‘transhumanist’ ideas, the belief that technology and science can be used to radically extend human life and capability.
Thiel in particular has long championed efforts to push the limits of biology and ageing, and the Enhanced Games’ rhetoric about “science-driven evolution” sits neatly within that worldview.
In a statement on the Enhanced Games website, Donald Trump Jr. said that the event “represents the future”.
“This is about excellence, innovation, and American dominance on the world stage – something the MAGA movement is all about,” he added.
D’Souza himself claims the event will “shape the future” of sport and science.
“This is a game-changer. With these powerhouse investors, we’re building something revolutionary – sports without hypocrisy, where the best can actually be the best,” D’Souza said.
Despite its provocative premise, the Enhanced Games are not a total free-for-all.
Athletes will still be bound by US federal law and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meaning drugs like cocaine or heroin remain strictly prohibited.
However, substances banned under WADA rules such as anabolic steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), or testosterone supplements are expected to be permitted under medical supervision.
The organisers say they will provide health screenings and consultations, though critics point out that there is no independent regulatory framework overseeing these assurances.
Reaction across the sporting world has been overwhelmingly negative.
Sport Ireland warned the event “sends an insidious message” to young athletes.
“It is the absolute antithesis of our work on behalf of the clean athlete. We condemn everything that the Enhanced Games stands for,” the body said in a statement.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has called competing in the Enhanced Games “moronic”, while the UK Anti-Doping Agency said bluntly: “There is no place in sport for performance-enhancing drugs, nor the Enhanced Games.”
Swim Ireland said it was “disappointed” by Ryan’s decision and confirmed he would no longer receive funding or support.
World Aquatics has gone further, ruling that any swimmer who competes in the Enhanced Games will be banned from future sanctioned competitions.
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