Shane Ryan Joins Controversial Enhanced Games, Sparking Debate Over the Future of Elite Competition
Irish Olympic swimmer Shane Ryan recently announced he would compete in the Enhanced Games, the new multi-sport event where athletes can use performance-enhancing drugs with no anti-doping restrictions. The 31-year-old Ryan, who recently swam in his third consecutive Olympics representing Ireland, has joined a number of elite athletes who are adopting this new model of competition. The move has sparked debate, with national federations, anti-doping authorities, and other athletes concerned and curious about the new model and the potential radical changes in competitive sports.
Shane Ryan: A Background
Shane Ryan’s path to international swimming illustrates the dual themes of talent and hard work. Born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Ryan grew up in a sporting household. His father, Thomas Ryan, was from Portarlington, Ireland, which means Shane holds dual nationality, a fact that would eventually influence his sporting career.
Ryan was a great swimmer in high school and the first male swimmer from Ireland to qualify for an Olympic semi-final in Rio 2016. Specializing in the 50m and 100m freestyle and backstroke, Ryan has represented Ireland in the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and is set to do so again in Paris 2024.
While Ryan didn’t earn an Olympic medal, he did achieve several podium finishes at the European Championships and the World University Games, earning the title of one of the top swimmers in Ireland. He recently announced he would retire from more traditional forms of competition in swimming, stating he wishes to “see what else the world has to offer outside the competitive swimming world.”
The Emergence of the Enhanced Games
The Enhanced Games represent one of the most extreme shifts in the world of sports in the last several years. Announced in 2023, these Games will begin in 2026 in Las Vegas. In contrast to the Olympic Games or any other major international sporting events, the Enhanced Games will not have any anti-doping tests, meaning athletes will be able to take performance-enhancing drugs freely and legally under a doctor’s supervision.
The idea was the brainchild of Aron D’Souza, an Australian businessman and former academic, who claims that the global anti-doping framework that the world has today is “hypocritical, outdated and detrimental to athlete innovation.” According to the Games’ organizers, their vision is to “unlock human potential” through the use of scientific enhancements.
The Events are slated to include a variety of sports — swimming, track, field, weightlifting, and gymnastics — without gender segregation and focusing on unadulterated human performance. There is a prize purse of $500,000 per event, and a $1 million prize for breaking a world record, positioning the Games as a very financially rewarding alternative to conventional sporting events.
The Enhanced Games, initially skeptical, recently captured the attention of disaffected athletes who are frustrated with governing bodies and their meager earnings, as well as with the restrictive anti-doping measures. There is interest in competing from prominent sports figures such as Ben Proud, the Team GB Olympic swimmer, Kristian Gkolomeev, a four-time Greek Olympian, and Fred Kerley, an American Olympic medalist and sprinter. This shows that the elite sports power structure is beginning to change.
Ryan’s Announcement and Statement
At the time of his retirement, Shane Ryan posted a message confirming his decision to compete in the Enhanced Games.
“I have participated in traditional competition at the highest level for over 10 years, and I look forward to this new chapter at the Enhanced Games. I have always enjoyed the opportunity to see what the ultimate limits and boundaries of human performance are, and this will give athletes the opportunity to see what those limits are in a different way,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s transition surprised a lot of people in the swimming community. He was believed to be a role model for younger Irish athletes because of his professionalism and clean record, as there were no scandals during his active years. It raises the question of how many more of the current and recently retired Olympians will join Ryan in this decision, given the affiliation with a competition that openly allows enhancement.
Ryan stated that this was not a case of him being burned out with Ireland, or his national federation, but rather a case of exploring human potential and the belief that athletes should be able to have power over their own bodies.
Reactions from Sports Bodies
The response from the Irish sporting institutions was immediate and decisive. The governing body for sport in Ireland, Sport Ireland, released a statement indicating that they were “deeply disappointed” by Ryan’s decision.
“Clean sport is a core pillar of Ireland’s sporting values. Participation in events that openly defy anti-doping measures undermines the integrity of athletic competition.”
Swim Ireland, the national swimming federation, also released a strongly worded response, confirming that Ryan would be disassociated from the organization and would no longer receive funding, coaching support, or access to national training centers.
The Olympic Federation of Ireland echoed similar sentiments, stating that Ryan’s participation in the Enhanced Games “stands in direct opposition to our core clean sport values.” Officials clarified that while Ryan is retired and therefore not under their direct jurisdiction, his choice “sends a troubling message” to young athletes about shortcuts and fair play.
On a broader scale, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has yet to formally respond to individual athletes joining the Enhanced Games, but its president previously criticized the concept as “dangerous and irresponsible,” warning that athletes who use banned substances outside of regulated environments will face serious health risks.
Athlete Reactions and the Sporting Community
Reactions within the athlete community are mixed. For example, younger Irish swimmers, who were among the first to comment when the Enhanced Games were first announced, expressed disappointment, saying Ryan’s decision is “a step backward” for clean sport. Most younger swimmers, however, seemed curious and supportive, saying the Enhanced Games could provide a necessary alternative to the overly bureaucratic, restrictive, and low-paying systems in the sport.
Current and former Olympians have been vocal on social media. For example, American sprinter Fred Kerley, who expressed interest in competing, welcomed Ryan’s announcement with a simple post on X, saying, “Another champion joins the future 💪.”
Some athletes in sports like weightlifting and track and field have expressed interest privately but still seem cautious, mainly due to possible sponsor and federation backlash.
The Debate Over Performance-Enhancing Substances
The primary issue at the Enhanced Games is the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). PEDs have been used for many years and are currently banned in sports to preserve fairness and to protect athletes’ health. These include anabolic steroids, EPO, human growth hormone, and a range of newer gene-editing and peptide-based substances.
Those in favor of Enhanced Games believe that anti-doping regulations are erratic and that many athletes already use performance enhancers through fully legal means, loopholes, or therapeutic use exemptions. They also believe that bringing enhancements into the open, and removing some restrictions, allows for greater degrees of medical care and oversight, and admission of potential harm and risks of enhancements, and encourages medical and scientific innovations for improvements in performance.
Critics argue that the core of open enhancement for athletes lies in the abolition of fair and equitable competition. Allowing open enhancements could create a ‘need’ for all athletes to use enhancements, leading to a ‘doping race’. Unmonitored use of performance enhancers has many fatal health risks. Some enhancers have extreme effects and unknown dangers that can be life-threatening.
Historical Context: Doping in Sports
Doping is not a new issue in sports. State-sponsored athletes in East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, the BALCO scandal in American athletics in the early 2000s, and ongoing cases reveal that attempts to enhance performance through ‘doping’ have been a consistent part of elite sports.
Fewer doping scandals occur in swimming than in other sports, but cases like the suspension of Sun Yang or the Eastern bloc programs show aquatic sports are also vulnerable. The establishment of WADA in 1999 set the stage for harmonized testing and penalties across global federations.
Nevertheless, after decades of testing, the consensus among experts remains that illegal doping still goes untested to a large degree. Some estimates say that 30% of top-tier athletes have used performance-enhancing drugs during their careers. The gap between policy and reality has fueled interest in a more “transparent” system like the Enhanced Games.
Potential Implications for Competitive Sports
More than a personal choice, Ryan’s joining the Enhanced Games must be reviewed in a comprehensive way. Should more well-known athletes decide to do the same, the impact on the sport would be unprecedented. It could lead to the potentially profit-less Enhanced Games attracting retired athletes, fringe athletes, or even elite competitors. Enhanced Games could also pull major sponsors, media dollars, and attention away from traditional competitive events. Sports governing bodies could be left unable to enforce rules for separate competitions, potentially making events more competitive. Fans may be split between the commercialized “enhanced sport” and support for the age-old ideal of clean competition.
For Ryan personally, the move symbolizes newly found athletic risk that could open lucrative avenues, but also serve as a step of unparalleled commercial and athletic achievement.
Conclusion
For Shane Ryan, joining the Enhanced Games is not just a personal choice for his career; it is also a landmark moment in the changing geography of world sport. The Enhanced Games simultaneously moves competition and the medicine-science-athletic performance merger to new frontiers in athletics.
Some people view Ryan’s decision as a betrayal of clean sport. Others see it as a bold innovation and personal freedom. In any case, it has sparked wider conversations. It has brought sports fans, bodies, and athletes to think about difficult questions: What is fairness? Is enhancement to sporting performance something to celebrate or resist? What role will science play in the future of sports?
With the countdown to Las Vegas 2026, the focus will again be on Ryan and his fellow athletes. Time will tell whether the Enhanced Games will be a revolutionary sporting spectacle or a controversial footnote. One thing is certain: the debate on performance enhancement in sports will continue.