By Retta Race on SwimSwam
There has been a whirlwind of news surrounding three-time Olympian Shane Ryan of Ireland in recent days.
In just a span of a week, the 31-year-old announced his decision to retire from competitive swimming. But, just days later, he revealed he would be joining the controversial Enhanced Games.
Ryan joined a growing list of accomplished swimmers who have joined the Games, joining male sprinters Ben Proud, Kristian Gkolomeev, James Magnussen, Andrii Govorov, Marius Kusch, and Josif Miladinov, while American Megan Romano became the first female to join the organization in early August.
As a refresher, the Enhanced Games are a multi-sport competition where athletes are allowed to use performance-enhancing substances without being subject to drug testing. The inaugural edition of the Games is slated for Las Vegas in May of 2026.
Ryan recently spoke to the media regarding his reasoning for joining the Enhanced Games bandwagon, citing his need ‘to put himself first.’
“If I try to go for the next Olympic Games, I’ll be 34 years old,” Ryan told RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime show. “My shoulders and body would not probably hold up as well. I had to take a step back, and kind of reconsider.
“When I step out into the real world financially, what do I have? Sadly, Olympic athletes do not get paid well at all.
“It is a financial decision but also an opportunity for me to be part of something that’s new and exciting.
“I was on €18,000 for a number of years and trying to compete and train. Trying to have a job doing that, especially with swimming, is very, very difficult.
“That’s below minimum wage, especially in Ireland. I was living in Dublin for a very, very long time representing Ireland for over a decade and sacrificed friends and family, missing weddings.
“What I need to do now is actually put myself first,” he said. “Financially, I’m making over six figures for nine months and then potentially making over $600,000 (€517,000) when it comes down the line.
“I’m going to be doing two events, the 100m freestyle and the 50m backstroke in May, and if I win one of those events, I get $250,000 (€216,000). Then if I win both of those, that’s a half a million dollars on top of what I’m earning right now. For me, as an athlete that’s 31 years old, this is like kind of a jumpstart financially.
“Financially this is a huge thing. I’ve honed a craft for my whole life and I want to take the opportunity. I’ve talked to a lot of people that are actually outside the swimming world that are super excited. They’re like, ‘Shane, you’d be stupid not to take this opportunity’.”
“Everyone thinks that once I join the Enhanced Games that I’m taking drugs – I’m not. I’m a clean athlete still right now,” he said.
“We’re here in Las Vegas until December and we are training completely clean. When it comes down to January to March, we’re going to Abu Dhabi to do a case study, a test, where we’ll be only on it for maybe at most two months, but everyone’s different.
“There’s always a chance that it could potentially affect [my body] in the wrong way but I’m willing to accept that choice and accept that consequence, potentially, if it does.”
We’ll see what transpires next year in Las Vegas.
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