Ben Proud admits huge financial incentive' is behind decision to join Enhanced Games

"There's a huge financial incentive with this and I would be lying if I said it didn't matter. If you look at the facts it would take me 13 years of winning world championship titles just to earn what I can win at one competition at the Enhanced Games. It's just such a different ballpark financially it gives me the opportunity to earn that sort of money and setting myself up, my family and supporting my mum."

"It definitely carries that risk,he said. This is one of the matters I really had to get my head around. Ultimately the public perception of me isn't really that important I don't see myself in the public eye too much so for me it's not the biggest issue. Ultimately it came down to whether I could get the support of the 15 or 20 people that mean most to me in my life. If they could understand why I'm making this decision and be supportive, then I'm a happy man."

Ben Proud, an Olympic silver medallist and multiple-time world and European freestyle champion, has signed up for the Enhanced Games, which permit performance-enhancing substances and are scheduled for next May. Proud accepted the reputational risk and said the primary motivation is the vastly greater financial reward, noting one Enhanced Games prize could equal 13 years of world-championship earnings. Proud emphasized family support and long-term security as central reasons, said public perception mattered less than the approval of 15–20 close people, and described feeling that he had reached the peak of his swimming career and wanted to be rewarded before retirement.

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