The most accomplished swimmers in the world are still very much against the next Enhanced Games, which openly allows the use of PEDs. Sarah Sjöström, a Swedish great and three-time Olympic winner, has criticized the idea, called it “very unfortunate,” and, in a strong statement of personal protest, said that she has “blocked and unfollowed every athlete who decided to participate” in order to remove any mention of the topic from her social media account.

As the Enhanced Games, scheduled for July of next year, approach, more and more athletes are speaking out against it. Daniel Wiffen, the reigning 800m freestyle Olympic champion from Ireland, is the most recent as he spoke out about his teammates’ (Shane Ryan and Max McCusker) decision to compete in the Enhanced Games.

“I don’t talk to them. I’m a younger part of the team. We just never really associated,” Wiffen stated, making clear the separation that exists. This distancing follows his earlier, unequivocal rejection of the event itself, which he dismissed by saying, “For me, it’s not swimming… I probably won’t even watch it.”

The substantial prize money, including $250,000 for a victory and a $1 million bonus for breaking a world record, is a strong financial incentive, but Wiffen argues that the moral compromise and health risks posed are too great. “It doesn’t make sense to me morally that people would go out and dope just for a paycheck. You’re risking your health at the end of the day,” he said.

With the Enhanced Games permitting the use of performance enhancing substances, while offering big financial bonuses for breaking world records at the event, and even just participating, Wiffen’s health concerns aren’t unfounded. With $1m on the line for beating a WR, it creates a risky incentive as athletes potentially push themselves to earn that bonus.

Famous swimmers like Sjöström and Wiffen have chosen a position that is in line with the official stance of the world’s swimming federations, which have also sought to distance themselves from the Enhanced Games.

The sport world’s regulatory bodies are at odds with the Enhanced Games

The worldwide governing body of the sport, World Aquatics, has instituted bylaw 10 that forbids participants in events like the Enhanced Games, where PEDs are used, from taking part in World Championships and other elite contests hosted by them. After the Enhanced Games’ $800 million antitrust case against World Aquatics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and USA Swimming was dropped by a U.S. federal court, this rule was recently upheld.

Granting the motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman wrote in a 33-page order Monday that mentioned “Enhanced fails to allege that bylaw 10, contrary to its plain language, automatically applies to every elite, international swimming competition.”

Noting the psychological and physiological costs of PEDs throughout history, WADA has also denounced the event, calling it an “ill-conceived” danger to athlete safety. This institutional opposition effectively means that swimmers like Ryan and McCusker are choosing a lucrative, one-off event over their future in traditional international swimming.