Ever since they were announced a few years ago, the Enhanced Games have generated an impressive tonnage of think pieces<\/a> and essays about the ethics<\/a> of watching the juiced-up run, jump, and swim faster than what is humanly possible.<\/p>\n The entire hubbub has made me want to puke. In my former career as a cycling journalist, I reported on the Tour de France and other major cycling races during sport\u2019s era of rampant doping. Cycling pulled itself apart as it wrestled with its performance-enhancing drug (PED) problem, and entire generations of cyclists had their lives upended by the specter of cheating.<\/p>\n I can spell out in great detail what happens to a sport when its culture of competition becomes intertwined with chemical enhancement. News flash, it isn\u2019t great! That\u2019s why, whenever anyone in my life has brought up the\u00a0Enhanced Games, I have closed my eyes, jammed my fingers into my ears, and screamed NANANANANA MAKE IT GO AWAY!\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, now even a hater like me has a reason to watch the coming freak show. And that reason is a current American Olympic swimmer named Hunter Armstrong.<\/p>\n On March 3, Armstrong announced his plans to compete in the Enhanced Games. But unlike the other participants, he will not take PEDs.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be very clear: I am joining the Enhanced Games as a clean athlete,\u201d he posted on Instagram. \u201cI will NOT be taking any banned substances and I WILL be continuing my path to win gold on home soil in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n Armstrong, 25, is a two-time American Olympian, and he won gold medals for Team USA in relay events at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games. He is one of the world\u2019s fastest in the backstroke and sprint freestyle events, and he told ESPN<\/a> that he plans to target the 50-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle events at the\u00a0Enhanced Games.<\/p>\n You may be wondering why a decorated Olympian in the prime of his career is choosing to compete against a bunch of drug cheats at a garish event with zero international acclaim.<\/p>\n The answer, of course, is money.<\/p>\n The Enhanced Games is flush with cash, and it is offering hefty prize purses to the athletes who participate. According to ESPN, the Enhanced Games pays $250,000 for first prize in an event. They also pay salaries and offer\u00a0cash bonuses to anyone who can beat a world record.<\/p>\n Olympic swimming, by contrast, offers even its gold medalists very little in the way of funding. More than a decade ago, journalist Ben McGrath wrote a fabulous story in The New Yorker all about the overly competitive marketplace for Olympic sponsorships<\/a>. It turns out that a massive earning chasm exists between the haves and have-nots at the Olympics. While celebrity Olympians like Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, and Simone Biles earn millions from endorsements, lesser-known Olympic heroes like Armstrong must pinch pennies.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2203647966.jpg\"\/)
Swimmer Hunter Armstrong says he will race clean at The Enhanced Games (Photo: Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n