{"id":183474,"date":"2025-12-09T19:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/183474\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:50:07","slug":"daniel-wiffen-lashes-out-against-enhanced-games-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/183474\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Wiffen lashes out against Enhanced Games \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Wiffen<\/a> didn\u2019t need much prompting when delivering his cold and complete shunning of the Enhanced Games. Especially as the timing couldn\u2019t have been worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll ready for questions about the Enhanced Games,\u201d Wiffen said, after the announcement Max McCusker has become the second Irish swimmer to sign up<\/a> for the controversial event which openly allows and encourages the use of otherwise banned performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

In Dublin to attend the launch of the Swim Ireland pool analysis report, Wiffen has just returned from the European Short-Course Championships in Lublin, Poland, winning three freestyle medals, including another gold in the 1,500m.<\/p>\n

Irish swimmers won seven medals in all, but Wiffen was quick to address McCusker\u2019s decision to join Shane Ryan, who also signed up for the Enhanced Games in October<\/a>, prompting widespread disapproval from Swim Ireland, Sport Ireland, and the Olympic Federation of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s not swimming,\u201d said Wiffen. \u201cIt\u2019s just like a different organisation. Swimmers are doing it for the money, and you can understand why. There\u2019s just not enough money in our sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t make sense to me morally that people would go out and dope just for a paycheck. You\u2019re risking your health at the end of the day. It\u2019s something I would never partake in, and I probably won\u2019t even watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old McCusker was part of the Irish men\u2019s 4x100m medley relay that competed at the Paris Olympics, alongside Ryan, Conor Ferguson and Darragh Greene. He is currently the Irish record holder in the 100m butterfly. <\/p>\n

Wiffen knew nothing of McCusker\u2019s decision to join the Enhanced Games, set to take place in Las Vegas next May with events in swimming, athletics and weightlifting, offering a $1 million bonus for any athlete who breaks world records in the 100m sprint on the track and its pool equivalent, the 50m freestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t talk to them,\u201d Wiffen said of Ryan and McCusker. \u201cI\u2019m a younger part of the team. We just never really associated. I hope there is not a third [Irish swimmer], to be honest. But it\u2019s nothing to do with me, I\u2019m doing it for myself, and for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US-born Ryan competed in three Olympics, the British-born McCusker in one, and Ryan openly admitted that one of the main reasons he joined the Enhanced Games was for the money. Any athlete signed up will receive an appearance fee, and each individual event will carry a total prize purse of $500,000, with $250,000 awarded to first place.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Max McCusker during the heats of the men’s 100m butterfly at the 2023 World Championships in Japan. Photograph: Andrea Masini\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Wiffen did admit the funding made available for Irish swimmers doesn\u2019t always suffice: \u201cI\u2019m lucky enough to be Olympic champion, so I have the sponsorship backing, and I\u2019m on the top funding of \u20ac40,000. But for the younger athletes, John Shortt [who won backstroke gold in Lublin] is not carded. Evan Bailey [who won 200m freestyle bronze] is not on funding. These guys\u2019 parents are paying for them to swim.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to me. I was the same. It took me (until) after the Tokyo Olympics to get funding. I just think it\u2019s ridiculous, to be honest. How are they not getting the funding when they\u2019re winning European medals? John Shortt\u2019s been on track for a long time. He\u2019s winning European, World Juniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, \u20ac18,000 is also just not enough, \u20ac40,000 should be the minimum, in my opinion. It\u2019s also one of the downfalls of the carding system, is that it rewards achievement, rather than your potential. Another thing is that we also get taxed on our funding. In the UK, you don\u2019t get taxed on your funding. So even if I\u2019m getting 40k, I\u2019m not getting 40k. I\u2019m really getting 30k. That\u2019s how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiffen has already targeted a \u201cgrand slam\u201d of swimming titles, aiming to go undefeated in 2026, and is confident his recent move to California will leave him ideally placed to challenge for three gold medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the 400m, 800m and the 1,500m,\u201d said Wiffen, who won 800m gold in Paris, then 1,500m bronze. \u201cI want to start an undefeated streak as well. I haven\u2019t looked back. I\u2019ve not even taken out my Olympic medals in about a year. As soon as I do something good, I can put it behind me. I\u2019m 24 years old, peak age for swimming is 28. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t swim for the money. I don\u2019t swim for the medals. I swim because I enjoy it. I also like the reaction my parents get from taking me to the pool when I\u2019m seven, to now seeing me win the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several significant deficiencies were revealed in the pool gap analysis report, Swim Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane pointing to the fact there is only one public pool per 81,053 people in the Republic of Ireland \u2013 dramatically lagging international best practice \u2013 and with 57 per cent of pools in hotels, further limiting accessibility.<\/p>\n

Waiting lists for swimming lessons exist at 67 per cent of pools, while ageing infrastructure, lack of accessibility features, and unsustainable energy models threaten the potential of swimming across the island. Regional disparities are particularly acute, with no 50m pool in Connacht.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report is a wake-up call,\u201d said Keane. \u201cIt lays bare the systemic challenges facing our swimming and aquatic infrastructure, and puts a stark spotlight on the barriers preventing many Irish people from accessing the life-saving skill of swimming and the myriad health benefits that come with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report also outlined ways to address these critical gaps, urging investment in public pool provision, supporting universal accessibility, a defined plan for transitioning to energy-efficient heating solutions, and correcting severe regional imbalances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Wiffen didn\u2019t need much prompting when delivering his cold and complete shunning of the Enhanced Games. Especially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41544,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-183474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-daniel-wiffen","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}