“Oh Jesus,” says Shane Ryan. “You have no idea of the shitstorm that I’ve caused.”
It’s early morning in Las Vegas and Ryan has just woken up to the fact that back in Ireland, news of him signing up to be part of the Enhanced Games has broken. There’s been criticism from far and wide, from Sport Ireland, from Swim Ireland, from journalists and commentators and right across social media. None of it came as a surprise to him. But still, being in the middle of it is an experience.
And so he wants to give his side of things. Ryan is a good communicator and has always been one of the more quotable Olympians to represent Ireland over the past couple of decades. A brash son of Philadelphia, he has never really been one for the Irish poor mouth thing. Just ask him and he’ll tell you.
“I represented Ireland to the best of my ability,” he says. “Been to three Olympic Games, Olympic semi-finalist. I have two world medals for Ireland, two European medals and a World University Games gold medal. And I’m literally one of the fastest backstrokers in history.
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“That’s something you can’t change. That’s something I’ve done and I’ve closed that book. But when it comes down to it, when you step outside of that swimming world, money is what matters.”
In a way, it’s that simple. Ryan is doing this for money. He is going to take performance-enhancing drugs and swim in races under their effects first and foremost because he is being paid more money to do so than he has ever been paid in his life. He makes no bones about it.
“I’ve honed this craft for so long and I’m going to do it. I might as well do it, you know? I mean, I could make over $600,000 in nine months if everything goes right. And I’m already on a contract for nine months and I’m guaranteed pretty much over $200,000 by the end of May. But if I win my events, there’s the chance to win more.
“I had the fifth fastest swim in history there in December in the 50 backstroke and I’m like, ‘I’m still there’. But if I can get my shoulder back, oh boy, can I be fast. So that’s why it was a hard decision for me to do this. But at the same time ... people’s opinions aren’t going to put food on my table. People’s opinions aren’t going to pay for my house.”
The first approach came last year, before the Paris Olympics. The head swim coach at the Enhanced Games is an Australian named Brett Hawke – Ryan has known him since he was 16 years old. The swimming world is small and Ryan has friends among the training group that originally signed up as well. But when the offer came through first, he turned it down.
Ryan went to Paris and swam in the relay, becoming the first Irish swimmer ever to compete at three Olympics. But he was always someone who could best be described as a restless presence within the Irish set-up, regularly chafing against coaches or facilities or housing or funding or some combination of them all. Though Ryan spent a decade swimming for Ireland, you never got the sense that he was truly happy.
He would argue that he had his reasons. When he arrived in Ireland, the Sports Campus was still only being built and he was one of the first tenants on what was basically still a building site. He never rose to anything more lucrative than €20,000 in annual funding. And though he managed the occasional eye-catching result, he barely caused a ripple in the public consciousness. This is by far the most famous he has ever been.
“When it comes down to it ... money is what matters. To support your life, to have a job, to have a family, to have that stabilisation. And I struggled for years. When I first moved to Ireland, I didn’t have any money. I was a broke college kid.
“I struggled and I’ve continued to struggle for years, mentally and physically. And I’m just like, ‘You know what? I need to take a step back and realise.’ It was a hard decision but at the same time I need to do what’s best for me and my future.
“Doing this, first and foremost, is going to get my body right. I’m going to get the right care. But also financially, I’m going to come out of this better. A lot of people are like, ‘What about the integrity?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I did the integrity for over a decade.’
“Like, I have a friend who works at Lockheed Martin. He’s an engineer for making missiles. That’s kind of similar. Like, yes, he’s not pulling the trigger. But at the same time though, it’s a difficult thing but it’s a good paying job. This is a good paying job and I’m with my friends doing it.”
Okay, so let’s get into what we’re talking about here. Are you going to do human growth hormone? Would you take EPO? Would you be happy to sign up for blood doping? What’s on the menu, exactly?
“I don’t know yet,” he says. “I know I’ve done my research on testosterone and HGH. That’s not something that I’m interested in. EPO is something that is more associated with long distance but there’s a lot of complications with that more than the other ones. I have to do my research. Enhanced Games are supporting us in giving us all the knowledge in things that we want to take ourselves. They’re not forcing us to do anything.”
But why not? These guys are billionaires playing at games. Their stated aim is to push the limits of humanity, to see how far they can go with this stuff. They’re paying you more money than you’ve ever earned in your life – surely you have to do what they say?
“Well, I kind of want to do it anyway for myself,” he says. “First, I want to help get my shoulder back into play. But also at the same time, I’m done with Olympic swimming. I want to also build up a little bit, but in a healthy manner.
“Imagine if I did do this, if I stepped away from swimming and I decided to do this on my own. But in an unsafe way, privately. Like, that’s bad, really bad. Now I’m doing it the right way. I’m getting paid to do it. I’m learning how to do it the right way.
“They want us to compete and put on a show and do it in an enhanced way but in a safe manner. So then we can potentially advertise a lot of the different products later down the road. Because that’s what it is. This is a job, this is a marketing job. But also we’re doing it to have fun. We’re also here to push the limits.”
Hang on, a marketing job?
“Yeah, there’s a firm. Or there’s like a little thing where we’ll be kind of pushing the products and stuff like that eventually later down the road. That’s kind of what we’re marketing but also at the same time, we’re doing something different. We support clean sport but this is a different sport that we’re doing.”
Ryan says he hasn’t taken anything yet. For the moment, he’s focusing on getting intensive physio on a long-standing shoulder issue. After that, the plan is to go to Abu Dhabi for a test event in December and start ramping up for the Enhanced Games in Vegas in May.
At times during our conversation, it feels like he’s reaching a little. He compares the Enhanced Games at various points to both LIV Golf and the WWE, the former in the context of being a disrupter, the latter as a showbiz product. Neither comes across as the slam-dunk argument he intends them to.
He knows that so many people fundamentally disagree with the whole concept of the Enhanced Games. Some because of the moral side of it, some because of the health side of it, some because of the sheer grossness of impossibly wealthy men living out their eternal life fantasies and using athletes such as him as guinea pigs. He knows plenty of people who think it stinks. Some of them very close to home.
“Yeah, my mom’s not a big believer in it,” he concedes. “But that’s mainly more for my health than anything else, which I fully respect. I respect everyone’s opinion on it. But we’re doing this in a safe manner. If there’s any point where it does get unhealthy, I’m gonna stop and pull out.”
And what about the morality of it? Does he wrestle with that at all?
“I think I will a little bit,” he says. “But after being here for a week with Enhanced Games, not really any more. Because I need to realise that I need to take a step from that and do what I want to do. And do what’s best for me.
“I wrestled more with that when I was competing for Ireland. Why am I being treated this way? Why am I not getting enough money? Why am I not getting enough recognition? But now I’m like, I am getting all that and I’m getting paid and I’m being respected in the way I should be respected.
“And at the same time, money. It’s the money. It’s what I want to do with my life. And also I’m gonna come out of this with a better body. I’m gonna get my shoulder fixed, I’m gonna get my body fixed and come out a bit stronger.”
So that’s where he’s at. Take it or leave it. He knows he won’t convince most people that it’s the right thing to do but he’s not going to lose a lot of sleep over that.
“For me to end my swimming career, this is a chance to do it on my own terms. A chance to get paid to do it, be trained hard, get my body right, make a good buck and then go out. Because at the end of the day, money is what makes the world go around.”
