By Retta Race on SwimSwam
The Enhanced Games continue to make headlines this week.
Following British Olympic medalist Ben Proud‘s announcement that he’s joining the controversial Games, Australian champion Kyle Chalmers was also reportedly approached by the event’s organizers regarding joining up for its inaugural meet slated for next summer.
According to journalist Tom Decent, 27-year-old Chalmers recently turned down a three-year contract offer to the tune of US$1.08 million ($1.6m) to defect to the Enhanced Games.
Decent wrote that Chalmers was secretly approached by organizers not only to compete at next year’s event in Las Vegas, but also to become an ambassador for the competition. (The Age)
All told with bonuses, Chalmers stood to earn an estimated US$2.54 million ($3.8m).
However, the South Aussie’s manager, Phoebe Rothfield of W Sports & Media, said her client was focused on reaching a fourth Olympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles. (The Age)
“It is life-changing money for a swimmer – or any Australian Olympic athlete, for that matter,” Rothfield said. “It could have set him and his young family up and helped with the mortgage, but Kyle said no from the onset. It was a brief discussion.
“What drives him is competing for his country, standing on the podium in the green and gold and doing the sport because he loves it.” (The Age)
For Proud’s part, the 30-year-old men’s 50m free silver medalist from Paris last year said it would take him “13 years of winning a World Championship title” in order to earn the same amount of money that’s up for grabs at the Enhanced Games, which is offering $500,000 for an event win and $1 million for breaking the world record in either the 50-meter freestyle or 100-meter dash.
Proud was the latest accomplished swimmer to sign on with the Enhanced Games, joining male sprinters Kristian Gkolomeev, James Magnussen, Andrii Govorov and Josif Miladinov, while American Megan Romano became the first female to join the organization in early August.
Chalmers, who became a first-time dad last month, has been consistent in saying his career representing Australia is far from over.
In June, the sprinter stated, “The new 50s format (with all the form strokes now on the Olympic program) will keep me swimming until Brisbane 2032. I am in the very best position I’ve been in a very long time. My body is feeling good.
“And I’ve been swimming some really fast times. I can see myself swimming until Brisbane 2032 … and by then our little girl will be seven years old, so that would be pretty cool.”
This summer in Singapore, Chalmers earned silver in the men’s 100m freestyle and produced a heroic anchor to help the green and gold top the men’s 4x100m free relay podium.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Olympic Champion Kyle Chalmers Reportedly Turned Down Multi-Million Dollar Enhanced Games Deal
