Ben Proud, a world champion swimmer and silver medalist in Paris last summer, announced Wednesday he was quitting his Olympic career to race in lucrative events that allow steroids and other performance drugs.
Proud will take part in the 2026 Enhanced Games, which is financed in part by a venture capital fund backed by Donald Trump Jr.
Proud, from Great Britain, said on Instagram that he has the opportunity “to pursue something unique that excites me in a new way. .. This is not the end of my journey. It’s the beginning of a new chapter.”
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Proud, a former world champion who has won dozens of international medals in addition to a silver medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the Paris Olympics, might also be doing it for the money.
The first Enhanced competition next May in Las Vegas will pay $250,000 to the winner of the 50-meter event and $1 million for breaking the world record, The Athletic reported. The same incentives apply for the 100-meter sprint in track and field. Weightlifting will also be contested.
“My ambition has always been to be the fastest man on the planet,” Proud said in a release Wednesday, per The Athletic. “I want to focus on performance at its highest level. … The Enhanced Games gives me that chance — to test the limits of human potential with the tools and possibilities of our time.” ”
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Aquatics GB said on Instagram it was “immensely disappointed” and “condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency had previously branded the Enhanced Games as a “dangerous and irresponsible concept,” the BBC reported.
But Proud pushed back at the concerns over his well-being.
“Health is probably the biggest thing that people talk about, but I’m very certain that nothing I do will impact me long term, based on all the protocols I’ve been told about and how they’re going to manage it,” he told The Athletic. “I feel like I’m in the safest place for this.”