Ukrainian world record holder Andrii Govorov will compete in the Enhanced Games next year, announcing his intention to do so on Instagram Wednesday.
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The move comes just days after Govorov announced his retirement “from Olympic sport,” which in hindsight was a clue towards his intentions ahead of the Enhanced Games’ official launch on Wednesday.
Govorov, who currently holds the world record in the men’s 50 butterfly (LCM), joins Australian Olympic medalist James Magnussen and four-time Greek Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev as elite swimmers to confirm their participation in the Enhanced Games.
Gkolomeev went under the world record in the men’s 50 free (20.89) wearing a super-suit two weeks into taking performance-enhancing drugs, it was announced on Wednesday, while two months into his cycle, he went 21.03 in a jammer (under the textile world record of 21.04).
Govorov has always been a 50 fly specialist, and with that event only being added to the Olympic program last month, he has not represented Ukraine at the Games since 2016 despite remaining active. In Rio, he placed 5th in the men’s 50 free, setting a best time of 21.46 in the semi-finals. He was also 14th in the 50 free at the 2012 Olympics in London.
He won bronze in the 50 fly at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, and also won silver in the 50 fly at SC Worlds in 2010 and bronze in 2014.
At the LC European Championships, he’s won four career medals in the 50 fly, including back-to-back golds in 2016 and 2018, and he’s also twice reached the podium in the 50 free.
At SC Euros, he won three straight 50 fly titles from 2011 until 2015.
The Enhanced Games announced Wednesday that its inaugural event will run on Memorial Day Weekend in 2026 in Las Vegas.
Are there just male swimmers in the Enhanced Games? Or are there young women foolish enough to risk their health and fertility to win a pointless prize?
So far, I have not heard of any female athletes being involved.
I’ve also not seen anywhere that it’s explicitly for men, but it clearly has a male bent to it.
They did make an offer to Kensey McMahon last year
https://swimswam.com/kensey-mcmahon-offered-entry-into-enhanced-games-after-doping-suspension/
But with her best even apparently being 1500 free I can see why she wouldn’t entertain the idea even for a million dollars, lol
Couldn’t he have done both?
Train his ass off for Olympic gold in LA. Be in tip top shape to immediately roid up for enhanced games and break 22 in the 50fly to get his cash?
No. Enhanced games are in 2026 and I think it will be so underwhelming that it will only be a one time thing that never comes back.
Why give this any publicity?
Sorry SwimSwam I know you have to report on this like every news outlet or publication for swimming but let’s not give it more voice. So many athletes spend their careers fighting for a clean sport and doing the right thing and we’re in a world where that still isn’t given the support it needs dopers continue to get away with robbing clean athletes and what now we hsve to listen to and report on the enhanced games? No thanks. #supportcleanathletes
Mmm, so those were the other plans life had 😉 …
Please stop promoting these events — they are not swimming. Athletes are free to do what they want with their bodies, but serious media should not lend legitimacy to this spectacle by covering it as if it’s part of our sport. Calling this “the future of sports” is not only misguided — it’s dangerous. This isn’t progress; it’s regression, echoing gladiator-style entertainment. And every headline normalizing it fuels a growing pipeline of younger athletes drawn into the steroid++ spiral. Enough. Draw the line. This is not swimming.
Okay but it is swimming?
As a Ukrainian, it kind of hurts that legacies of the both wr holders in swimming we ever had are tainted now. One is a traitor, the other one is a doper. How wonderful.
same feeling
Sun Yang is breaking more vials somewhere
He doesn’t need to break them anymore. He can just join the dark side now