Opinion
Updated ,first published
Laugh all you want about the Enhanced Games and the lack of world records broken last month, but be warned: a serious reality check could be coming for Olympic sport, and Australian swimming in particular.
Kyle Chalmers’ scathing remarks on Thursday night about the lack of financial incentives for athletes should put sporting governing bodies on high alert.
James Magnussen hauling himself back into the pool after years of retirement for some cash and free peptides is easy to dismiss. The prospect of genuine Australian Olympic medal contenders defecting to the Enhanced Games because of the money on offer is not.
Not to dope, but to race clean for life-changing prizemoney.
Behind the scenes, athletes – swimmers in particular – are increasingly frustrated by what they see as a lack of financial reward from the International Olympic Committee.
Comments by IOC president Kirsty Coventry that she did not believe in paying Olympians – which she later clarified as opposition to Olympic prizemoney rather than athlete funding more broadly – were met with disbelief by many competitors. Athletes believe they are not receiving a fair share from a multi-billion-dollar organisation that profits from their performances every four years.
Last month, Australian Olympian and Sydney 2000 hero Liesel Jones questioned whether the sacrifices required to reach the top were even worth it, bluntly observing that “glory doesn’t pay the bills”.
If there was any doubt about how strongly athletes feel about the issue, Chalmers erased it when he walked over to waiting reporters on Thursday night at Australia’s swimming trials ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
The topic had clearly been simmering away, and Chalmers is never one to hold back.
“It’s really sad to see how uneven it is, especially when an IOC president comes out and makes pretty harsh comments through that period of time,” Chalmers said.
“It’s very easy for a lot of us swimmers to voice our concerns at times, but nothing seems to change. There’s millions of dollars being left in bank accounts where people are using our image and our performances and we don’t reap the rewards. It goes for not only the IOC but right down.
“As a 28-year-old with a young family and a mortgage, it’s very hard to continue. We fund these things ourselves. For me to come to trials, it cost me $5000. For me to race tonight, it cost me $36. It’s a sport that takes a lot from you.
“I really hope that, from the top right down, there’s going to be some change … I don’t see why you would probably choose this avenue honestly, as sad as it is.
“We’re in a really tough time in our sport. There’s a very big false narrative out there that if you’re an Olympic athlete winning gold medals, that you’ve kind of set yourself up in life. It’s very far from the truth.”
Whether the Enhanced Games can continue paying such significant sums remains to be seen, but the fact the money is actually landing in athletes’ bank accounts has triggered a potential revolution behind the scenes. Coventry’s comments poured petrol on the flames.
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev, who finished fifth in the 50m freestyle at the Paris Olympics, has made more than $3 million in just over a year after joining the Enhanced Games. Before that, his lone major international medal was a silver at the 2019 world championships.
Chalmers, a veteran of three Olympics, turned down a mammoth offer to sign up with the Enhanced Games last year, and it is understood organisers are ready to make another play for him. It would not be a surprise if his management are already in discussions.
Cam McEvoy has also been in their sights for some time. Both he and Chalmers are young fathers and, surely, there is a number they have in mind.
If either swimmer wants to compete as a clean athlete at the Enhanced Games, they should be allowed to do so, provided they remain in an approved drug-testing pool.
Athletes have a finite window to earn money from their efforts, and deserve to be compensated. It is ultimately their decision whether to accept money from an organisation many view as little more than a marketing vehicle for performance-enhancing drugs.
Chalmers referenced the case of American swimmer Hunter Armstrong, who pocketed $US375,000 ($535,000) in prizemoney for just two races, on top of an appearance fee. Armstrong is set to become the test case for whether athletes can return from the Enhanced Games and still compete at world championships and the Olympics.
Australian athletes are following this extremely closely.
“I think I’ve won 48 international medals. I would have got less prize money for those 48 international medals than Hunter Armstrong [did at the Enhanced Games],” Chalmers said.
The Olympics have long embraced an amateur spirit, but the IOC could ease growing discontent by introducing appearance fees or prize money for medallists. It does not need to be millions. The gesture alone would go a long way towards addressing the frustrations of athletes wondering why they continue to pursue sports that have historically offered little financial reward.
World Athletics pays Olympic gold medallists $US50,000. World Aquatics has instead preferred to direct funding towards its own events, such as world championships.
Maybe it will not be Chalmers or McEvoy who jumps ship. Perhaps it will be one of Australian swimming’s next generation of stars, tempted by the money on offer after hearing Chalmers explain the realities of life as an elite swimmer, even if he is in a much better financial predicament than most.
The depth of talent at the inaugural Enhanced Games was, to put it charitably, mediocre. But if you listened to chief executive Max Martin, you would think he and his team had assembled the greatest athletes in history and changed sport forever.
Incorrect.
The floodgates may open yet, however. What if Mollie O’Callaghan or Kaylee McKeown decided they wanted to cash in? What if Australia’s genuine gold medal hopes at the LA Olympics were unable to compete for their country? We are a little way off that, but keep in mind, the next Olympics that follows is in Brisbane, when the cost of living won’t have gone down.
That would be a seriously troubling outcome for Olympic sport – which is precisely why the IOC and its decision-makers need to lift their game.
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Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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