The first edition of the Enhanced Games is now in the books, and with it, plenty of talking points and mixed reviews. Among the major names in the sport to have given their opinions on it is 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte, and his views are not against the event but rather in support of it.
In an interview with Rhiannon O’Donohoe, published in a report from brobible.com, and featured on the Enhanced Games Instagram, Lochte mentioned that he feels the event, more specifically the financial upside for athletes, is “life-changing”.
“I could see more and more swimmers, athletes moving over to the Enhanced Games because it’s life-changing financial stability.” Lochte said in the interview. “It’s going to be life-changing.”
Lochte, 41, who has been out of racing for over five years, recently announced that he will serve as an assistant coach at Missouri State this upcoming college season, but admits that with the Enhanced Games, he wishes he was still swimming.
“I wish I was still swimming. It’s not just about taking enhancements. To be honest, it’s about the money, the prize money. They’re giving money that is life-changing for these athletes.” Lochte said. “When I was swimming, I was lucky enough to be paid by multiple sponsors and everything like that. But my swimming federation, getting a gold medal at the Olympics, you get 50 grand for a gold medal at the Olympics. You’re number one in the entire world and you only get 50 grand? Like, come on, you can’t support a family like that.”
He mentioned Cody Miller, who Lochte competed alongside at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, who made $500,000 at the Enhanced Games for winning both the 50 breast and 100 breast. He also mentioned non-enhanced athlete Hunter Armstrong, and explained that his winnings completely outweigh that of an Olympic Gold medal-winning performance.
“Cody Miller, a good friend of mine, I swam with him at the Olympics. He made $500,000 in two races [at the Enhanced Games]. That is life-changing for him and his family. And I know why he did it, because he wanted to help his family out. My hat goes off to him.” Lochte said in the report from brobile.com. “There’s that other swimmer, that backstroker [Hunter Armstrong]. He didn’t take any enhancements, but he was able to compete. When he won, he got $250K. What? You’re getting quadruple the amount that you would get if you weren’t doping and winning a gold medal at the Olympics. This is just winning a race.”
Lochte, whos is among the most decorated Olympians, regardless of sport, in history, said that he feels that the money is now going into the correct hands, the athletes.
“They’re finally getting to the point where all these top people, they’re making so much money, like the CEOs and all that, but then the actual athletes that show up, are getting nothing. So now it’s the other way around.” Lochte said. “The swimmers, the people that are actually competing, are getting the most amount of money. That’s how it should be.”
Throughout the Enhanced Games, only one World Record mark was surpassed, which came at the hands of Kristian Gkolomeev in the 50 free, clocking 20.81, earning him an additional $1 million bonus, on top of winning two events, bringing his total payout to $1.5 million.
In the interview, Lochte gives an interesting perspective on the world record, Lochte pulls from his own experiences of racing, where he says many people were doping, and if a world record is broken, “it’s all in the same category.”
“If an enhancement person breaks a world record – hey, we have records because they’re meant to be broken. No matter if you’re taking supplements or not, they’re meant to be broken. That’s why we have records.” Lochte said. “I swam enhancement-free. I went against people that were doping and I came up on top. So I think a world record, if it gets broken, it’s all in the same category. It doesn’t matter. That’s my opinion.”
Idek how I feel about this take, but I feel like if it’s a thing to rave about, then it’ll find its people- and the fact that Lochte is promoting it just looks bad for Lochte. Especially since he was a “clean” swimmer, and is now saying world records are all the same, clean or not. I prefer to keep the enhanced games a niche idea, and not something that is truly competing with world aquatics swimming. Yes, it is scary. We as the clean world of swimming don’t have the money to compete, but we have plenty of other amazing attributes that make us special. To just simplify it down to money is so tacky. I hope swims like… Read more »
Do we have any idea what the athlete retainer fees were?
Known smart person Ryan Lochte
Yeah. If Ryan Lochte, Hunter Armstrong and Cody Miller are the mouthpieces here…well, that tells you all you need to know. Desperation dumpster fire.
The Three Stooges of swimming.
No doubt thanks to academic training via a bachelor degree in sports management from the University of Florida …
Lochte still talking the most and saying the least🤦🏻♂️
See, I don’t necessarily disagree with the money stuff… it’s so complicated and I understand why people are getting their bag.
What I take major offense to is that last paragraph where he’s saying all WRs are the same regardless of if they’re enhanced or not. In what world is Cam’s swim comparable to Kristian on a “protocol” AND IN A SUPERSUIT?????
Lochte’s 2 IM WR was iconic, and Leon beat that fair and square. Would he have thought it was all legit and dandy if some loser put on a supersuit and went 1.53.9??? Why are we even measuring this stuff then?
step 0: USA swimming needs an investor group ti buy in—initial funds can be used for swimmer salaries and fixing all the things many on this site have complained about
step 1: USA swimming needs to negotiate an overall streaming rights deal
step 2: USA swimmers need a union body to collectively bargain w/ USA swimming on everything from benefits to salaries
step 3: if there’s any revenue to be had it needs to be part of a 50/50 or 49/51 split.
step 4: everyone works to grow the pie.
I don’t know why you are getting ratioed. The article on EG that said there was nothing to learn missed the mark. EG has not made money. IT has lost money in spectacular fashion. But they had an idea (that it is morally quesitonable is beside the point) scraped together some money (it wasn’t that much, I believe the idea was funded with $3-4M and a decent line of credit), went to someone who specializes in raising money via a SPAC and now they have $200M to pay atheltes and maybe make a thing of it. That they executed poorly, come accross as carnival barkers, over promised, under delivered, and most importantly totally misread the publics appetite to live an… Read more »
Time for everyone to face the music. Enhanced has simply attempted a business strategy that also tries to pay athletes(a strategy that may or may not work long term). Meanwhile, still no new strategic efforts from the real sport. Just the old strategy: “The Road to 2028″(coupled with IOC statements that hint their goal may be to keep pay away from the athletes). The Olympics now need to become secondary(background) to the sport. And, the current executives should be required to develop a platform that draws new viewers/revenue in order to pay the top talent(should pay more than the executives pay – similar to other sports). No more riding the coattail of the Olympics(this strategy is slowly killing the sport).
“no new strategic efforts”
https://swimswam.com/world-aquatics-to-trial-10-lane-semis-finals-at-sc-worlds-adding-world-cup-wild-card-qualifier/
https://swimswam.com/world-aquatics-announces-50s-of-stroke-added-to-2028-olympics/
https://swimswam.com/usa-swimming-plans-to-add-short-course-selection-meet-for-2026-world-championships/
I think it’s pretty clear that there’s a new strategic effort around making World Cup meets mean more, which will hopefully raise the visibility, attention, revenue, and therefore amount of money distributable to athletes.
You may not like those new strategic efforts, you may not thing they will work, but it is happening.
I’ll add that world aquatics controlling qualifying spots for the Olympics of the 50 strokes, while something I hate(!), was a brilliant move by them.
Sick of all the hypocrites here. We would all partake if invited.
Based. Comes down to personal conviction.
No I effing would not. No amount of $$$ could make me sell my soul to this bunch.
I think I’ve made that argument to people in the past, like if you could just take a pill that WAS NOT ALLOWED and maybe was more dangerous than idk, anesthesia, but it made you so much better at your accounting job that you’d increase your lifetime earnings 10x, you’d absolutely do it.
It was in relation to being a fringe national teamer and making the leap and I mean, I see how it can happen pretty easily.
This is just more honest about it.
Yet another “revealing” post from SN.
You are not making a good analogy here.