Olympic Silver Medallist Ben Proud Signs Up For Enhanced Games
Olympic silver medalist Ben Proud will compete in the inaugural Enhanced Games next May as he retires from traditional competition to move into an event that allows athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs.
The announcement comes weeks after the Briton won 50 free silver at the World Championships in Singapore and a little over a year since he was second behind Cam McEvoy at Paris 2024.
“My ambition has always been to be the fastest man on the planet,” said Proud. “I’ve spent years striving for that within traditional sport, but my motivations have shifted. Now, I want to focus on performance at its highest level and challenge myself in new ways. The Enhanced Games gives me that chance – to test the limits of human potential with the tools and possibilities of our time.”
There will be no return to clean waters for the Briton, who is now banned from international competition after World Aquatics became became the first international sport federation to ban athletes, coaches and officials from its events for participation in the Enhanced Games.
Proud will join the likes of Kristian Gkolomeev, who shared fifth place with Proud in Tokyo, and James Magnussen, world 100 free champion in 2011 and Olympic silver medallist a year later in London, at the inaugural event in Las Vegas next year where the trio will compete in the 50 free.
As well as the presence of performance-enhancing drugs, swimmers can also compete in polyurethane non-textile compression suits that have been banned by World Aquatics (FINA) since 2010.
In an interview with the BBC, the 30-year-old refuted suggestions that the Enhanced Games undermines clean sport, saying: “No. I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way.
“Speaking for myself, 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.”
It brings to a crashing end a soaring career in the pool in which he became the first man to simultaneously hold the world, European and Commonwealth titles after he won all three in a few short weeks in the summer of 2022. There was also that silver medal in the Olympic pool in the French capital last year.
Aquatics GB released a statement in which it “condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms,” saying: “Aquatics GB is immensely disappointed in Ben Proud’s announcement to sign with the Enhanced Games. Aquatics GB, along with our partners, stand firmly behind the values and principles of clean sport and condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms. A further statement will be issued in due course.”
Among those to like Aquatics GB’s statement on social media were three-time Olympic champion Adam Peaty – long a vocal critic of doping – Anthony Ervin, winner of two Olympic 50 free golds who worked with Proud in Hawaii in 2023, and James Gibson, who oversaw the programme Proud had developed for many years in Gloria with input from strength and conditioning coach Marco Cosso
World Aquatics released the following statement: “World Aquatics reaffirms its steadfast commitment to protecting clean sport. World Aquatics will continue to fight for an environment free of performance-enhancing drugs.”
European Aquatics & UK Sport Among Those To Respond
On top of Aquatics GB’s condemnation and World Aquatics reiterating their anti-doping stance, there has been reaction from elsewhere.
European Aquatics echoed Aquatics GB, saying: “We stand alongside our member federation Aquatics GB in condemning this decision, which we believe undermines our commitment to the values and principles of clean sport and our ongoing efforts to establish integrity as a basis for all our activities.”
UK Sport, which invests lottery and government funding into high-performance sports, added: “UK Sport condemns everything the Enhanced Games stands for in the strongest possible terms. We believe it risks compromising athlete health and welfare, undermines the trust of fans and is the absolute antithesis to our philosophy of winning well. We are incredibly disappointed to learn that any British athlete in one of our Olympic or Paralympic programmes would support such an event.”
Having retired from ‘traditional swimming,’ Proud would no longer be eligible for funding although UK Sport continued: “We are engaging with our colleagues at 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.”
Following his move to London following Paris 2024, he found it hard to replicate the set-up and focus he’d had with Gibson and Cosso in Gloria and turned to Lisa Bates, the head coach of the Chelsea and Westminster club which trains at the Aquatics Centre, minutes from his Stratford apartment.
However, Bates and the Chelsea & Westminster Club have now cut all ties with Proud, more casualties in his slipstream.
A statement on social media read: “Some of you may have seen the announcement today that Ben Proud has decided to sign with the Enhanced Games. CWSC is fully in alignment with the statement made by Aquatics GB today and reiterates that CWSC stands firmly behind the values and priniciples of clean sport and condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms.
“Today, CWSC has lapsed Ben’s membership and is terminating its collaboration with Ben. Equally out Director of Swimming and Head Coach Lisa Bates and our strength and conditioning coach Mitch have both stopped working with Ben with immediate effect.”
However, not all responses were critical. Olympic, world and European medallist Chris Walker-Hebborn, a former GB teammate of Proud, said: “Excited to see how fast you can go. Dominated one category, now dominate the next.”