The Enhanced Games have garnered lots of attention in the world of Olympic sports over the past year, with fans like myself expressing mixed feelings.

In May, the Enhanced Games announced that Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev swam under Cesar Cielo’s 20.91 50m freestyle world record after six weeks of taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), earning himself a $1 million bonus.

The substances Gkolomeev used to go 20.89 have not been disclosed, but PEDs used in sports are often anabolic steroids such as testosterone, which are banned in regular competition.

Other commonly used PEDs include trimetazidine (TMZ), which is a medication that improves the heart’s efficiency in using oxygen. 

I understand why some athletes are signing with the Enhanced Games: athletes in Olympic sports are often not compensated adequately. 

Gkolomeev cited inadequate pay as a reason for joining the games. Ben Proud said it would take him “13 years of winning a world championship title” in clean sport to match the level of compensation the Enhanced Games are offering. Fred Kerley said to Sports Illustrated, “Unless they start paying athletes properly, people will put themselves first. The sport can’t survive on outdated pay models.”

The athletes signing with the Enhanced Games seem to be doing so primarily for the money, even if they say it’s for the sake of “pushing limits” or “breaking records.”

Doing it for the money makes sense: unless you’re a select few people in a sport like swimming or track & field, the pay is rarely enough to make a living. 

It isn’t that there isn’t enough money to go around – the IOC has almost $5 billion in reserves – that money just doesn’t go to the athletes. 

The Enhanced Games offer a $1 million signing bonus for breaking the 50m freestyle world record (or for track, the 100m dash world record). Other world records would earn athletes $250,000. 

Even the lower end of what the Enhanced Games are offering is over double the $100k world record bonus for track & field, and is considerably higher than World Aquatics’s $25k world record bonus for swimming. 

I can see why athletes are opting for this option, which, although it eliminates most other options in their sport, compensates them considerably more than traditional options.

Despite my understanding of the athletes who choose to participate, I worry about the influence the Enhanced Games will have on kids in sports.

While most kids in the US in sports today aren’t looking up to someone like James Magnussen or Megan Romano, I am concerned that the Enhanced Games sends a message that puts the use of PEDs in a positive light.

I wasn’t initially as concerned about kids being influenced by the Enhanced Games, as the athletes that initially joined were either in their prime when most kids today were too young to remember, or don’t have as big a following as athletes who have recently won Olympic and world titles. 

However, after Ben Proud and Fred Kerley announced their participation in the games, I am more concerned about kids seeing athletes they idolize and seeing the use of PEDs as a positive thing.

PEDs have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disorders, among others, and even death.

In the end, adults can do what they want with their bodies. However, these drugs have been linked to negative health effects, and I’m concerned that the Enhanced Games markets them as safe. 

While I don’t like that Kristian Gkolomeev is now touting himself as the “fastest swimmer ever” based on a drugged performance, I think the existence of the Enhanced Games should serve as a wake-up call for the International Olympic Committee as well as national sports federations, to pay their athletes what they deserve.