Ryan Lochte thinks the Enhanced Games are going to change the sport of swimming forever. He actually wishes he was still able to compete because the money is so good.
The 41-year-old sees this as a major turning point for athletics.
I did not expect such a well-decorated athlete to take this stance on the use of PEDs in swimming. Lochte will not view an enhanced athlete any differently than those who are clean.
Ryan Lochte wants to swim at the Enhanced Games for the money.
The Enhanced Games not only allows but encourages athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs. Participants who choose to use FDA-approved supplements must do so under under medical supervision and must pass screenings. However, they are not controlled by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Not only does the competition allow for bodily autonomy, it also pays extremely well. Winners receive $250,000. A cash prize of $1 million is awarded to any athlete who breaks a world record. (Soon to be $2 million!)
Ryan Lochte told Rhiannon O’Donohoe that he is all-in on the increased financial compensation.
“Damn, I wish I was still swimming. It’s not just about taking enhancements. To be honest, it’s about the money, the prize money. They’re giving money that is life-changing for these athletes. When I was swimming, I was lucky enough to be paid by multiple sponsors and everything like that. But my swimming federation, getting a gold medal at the Olympics, you get 50 grand for a gold medal at the Olympics. You’re number one in the entire world and you only get 50 grand? Like, come on, you can’t support a family like that.”
His friends made a lot of money at the Enhanced Games. He would love that same opportunity.
““Cody Miller, a good friend of mine, I swam with him at the Olympics. He made $500,000 in two races [at the Enhanced Games]. That is life-changing for him and his family. And I know why he did it, because he wanted to help his family out. My hat goes off to him. There’s that other swimmer, that backstroker [Hunter Armstrong]. He didn’t take any enhancements, but he was able to compete. When he won, he got $250K. What? You’re getting quadruple the amount that you would get if you weren’t doping and winning a gold medal at the Olympics. This is just winning a race.
The 12-time Olympic medalist sees this approach as the way forward. It is a good thing for swimming.
“They’re finally getting to the point where all these top people, they’re making so much money, like the CEOs and all that, but then the actual athletes that show up, are getting nothing. So now it’s the other way around. The swimmers, the people that are actually competing, are getting the most amount of money. That’s how it should be.”
Lochte hopes it will force larger payouts in other leagues and competitions.
“I could see more and more swimmers, athletes moving over to the Enhanced Games because it’s life-changing financial stability. It’s going to be life-changing.”
The controversy surrounding the Enhanced Games is not something that bothers him. In fact, it excites him.
A world record is a world record is a world record.
Although he was skeptical at first, Ryan Lochte now sees the Enhanced Games as a legitimate competition. His perspective has changed.
And while some people may not see an athlete that uses steroids as legitimate, Lochte puts them all in the same category. Especially when it comes to world records.
“If an enhancement person breaks a world record – hey, we have records because they’re meant to be broken. No matter if you’re taking supplements or not, they’re meant to be broken. That’s why we have records.”
Lochte draws from his own experience.
“I swam enhancement-free. I went against people that were doping and I came up on top. So I think a world record, if it gets broken, it’s all in the same category. It doesn’t matter. That’s my opinion.”
This is an interesting perspective from the second-most decorated male swimmer of all-time. Especially considering that he is currently working as an assistant coach at Missouri State. He was clean an his athletes are clean, obviously, but he sees their accomplishments as equal to those who aren’t because an advantage (like PEDs) can only take you so far. You still have to do the work.