Olympic medallist Ben Proud becomes first British athlete to join controversial Enhanced Games
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Britain's Ben Proud with his World Aquatics Championships 50 metre freestyle silver medal at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore on Aug 2, 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MANCHESTER, United Kingdom – Olympic silver medallist swimmer Ben Proud is joining the Enhanced Games, saying he wants to explore the limits of human possibility.
The 30-year-old, who is the first British athlete to join the controversial event that permits athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs, announced the decision on Instagram on Sept 10, to mostly negative comments.
“It’s time for a shift,” two-time world champion Proud wrote. “I will be retiring from traditional swimming to compete in the Enhanced Games.
“Stepping into a framework that challenges everything we know about performance, and a chance to chase the outer edge of human potential with the tools and possibilities of our time. This is where my next chapter begins.”
In response, Aquatics GB, the British governing body for water sports, said in a statement that it is “immensely disappointed” in Proud’s decision and condemns it “in the strongest terms”.
UK Sport said it is working with Aquatics GB “as a matter of urgency to determine Ben Proud’s suitability to receive public funds”.
“It is clear however that any breach of anti-doping rules is contrary to the policies which any athlete must comply with to receive UK Sport funding,” the governing body said in a statement.
Proud raced to silver in the 50 metres freestyle at the Paris Games, his first Olympic medal. He also won a silver in the event at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Aug 2.
He told the BBC he sees traditional sport and the Enhanced Games as “two very separate entities”, and that he does not feel that competing in the Games undermines clean sport efforts.
“I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way,” he said. “I think realistically I’ve achieved everything I can, and now the Enhanced (Games) is giving me a new opportunity.
“I definitely don’t think that’s undermining a clean sport.
“I really respect the sport I’ve been part of and I would never step back in knowing I’ve done something which isn’t in the rules.”
The Enhanced Games have set their inaugural competition for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda, to the consternation of anti-doping bodies.
World Aquatics had said in June that any athlete or official who endorses doping will be barred from its events. REUTERS
