Swedish Olympic Champion Sarah Sjöström has unfollowed all athletes who have been involved in the Enhanced Games.
In a video posted on X from @swimcoverage (競泳NEWS), Sjöström said she doesn’t believe “that competition at all, so I hope we just don’t give it to them.”
🇸🇪Sarah Sjöström
エンハンストゲームズ参加者を痛烈批判「Enhanced Gamesに参加を決めた全選手をブロックしてフォローも外しました。SNSでその話題を見るのも嫌」
「心底がっかりです。注目を受ける価値なんてないし、話題にしない方がいいわ」 pic.twitter.com/c8fTVF4CV5
— 競泳NEWS (@swimcoverage) October 30, 2025
“It’s really unfortunate that there are some who have chosen to invest money because they think it’s exciting to see how good an athlete can become with the help of illegal means in swimming,” Sjöström said.
According to AOL, Sjöström went on to say that she has “blocked and unfollowed every athlete who decided to participate in the Enhanced Games”.
“I can’t stand seeing that topic on SNS anymore… I’m truly disappointed from the bottom of my heart. It’s not worth the attention, and it’s better to just not talk about it.”
Sjöström pushed that the concept of putting money into the Enhanced Games undercuts the fair-play aspect of the sport.
Sjöström competed and trained alongside British sprinter Ben Proud, who committed to the Enhanced Games in September, during their time in the now-discontinued International Swimming League (ISL) on the Energy Standard team.
Sjostrom has had a storied career in the pool that dates back to 2008, when she won the long course European title in the women’s 100 fly at the young age of 14. The following year, at 15, she won the 2009 World Championship title in the 100 fly with a massive upset, resetting the world record in a time of 56.06.
Since then, Sjöström has become a three-time Olympic champion, accumulating 20 world championship titles and 29 European championship titles in her illustrious career.
She is now one of the highest profile swimmers in the world to speak out against the Enhanced Games, joining the likes of Cam McEvoy, who has vocalized his opinions on how it could leave a negative lasting effects on athletes, and Kyle Chalmers, who rejected a multi-million dollar offer from the Enhanced Games with the desire to continue representing his country.
Possibly the most ignorant and worst comment in SS history.
I wish I could downvote this 1000x.
No way you’re transvestigating one of the goats lmao
She’s listed at 6’0″ and 180 pounds. She’s physically larger than almost every member of the Japanese and Chinese men’s teams at WCs this year.
Katie Ledecky is also 6 foot, as are around 1.5 million US females and probably at least 1 million European females. So, Sarah is relatively tall for a female and very fit – what’s the problem with that?
Oh here we go again. “Those tiny Asians” etc etc.
Beast Mode
The arguments on both sides are terminally clear, and there will be no reconciliation.
The EG will go on, I suspect, and then after a few years, probably fade away.
Adults using a medically supervised protocol to be faster athletes –
I just don’t see it as a problem except for the purists in sport.
“I just don’t see it as a problem except for the purists in sport.”
I’ve read enough of your comments to know you are intelligent. Can you truly not envision any problems that could arise from this? The reality is that increasing athletic performance with drugs almost always comes at the expense of long-term health. While it may seem easy to say, ‘that’s their choice,’ the consequences extend beyond the individual. In the future, Medicare—and by extension, taxpayers—will be responsible for the costs of treating liver damage, cancer, and other health issues resulting from performance-enhancing drug use. Put another way, the liberty to put whatever you want into your body ultimately becomes a public health issue, funded by everyone.… Read more »
And furthermore, as another swimswam commenter pointed out, it provides an easy alternative to an athlete caught cheating. Previously there was a strong incentive not to cheat – it was career ending. Now, they can simply switch into another category and continue their athletic careers.
I very much appreciate your remarks, and esp., the respectful tone. However, my only point was to underscore that adults make choices in sport — and they live by them. Yes, society oftentimes has to pick up the pieces later on vis a vis health care costs, but isn’t that true in so many cases? If a diabetic, for example, insists on consumption of unhealthy levels of sugar, is it not the public health system that pays the price? Or, the obese person who dines inordinately on what harms him/her? I think we are in this same realm for EG. I DON’T like it, but it is the future, at least in the near term.
She’s on a maternity break from the sport.
Maybe SwimmA does not know how the human body works. Maybe missed all the days that was discussed in school?
What?
For me all this EG crap is absurd. All they want is attention, all they NEED is attention. If no one watches them they will slowly disappear. They live for the bait and we are falling for their provocation. I know its frustrating, but the best way to deal with this is just ignoring them. The same way the best way to deal with a little kid’s tantrum is to ignore him