Swimmer Max McCusker says it was a "no-brainer" to compete in the inaugural Enhanced Games next year.
Swimmer Max McCusker said joining the Enhanced Games was "a no-brainer" in order to compete in something "that no-one's done before".
The 26-year-old, who represented Ireland at the Olympics last year, announced earlier this month that he was joining the Games, a new multi-sport competition that allows athletes to use performance-enhancing substances.
McCusker, who was part of the Irish men's 4x100m medley relay team in Paris, defended his position, pointing to the financial attraction of making the switch and the excitement of being involved in a new venture as the main reasons for his move.
The butterfly specialist, whose talents were honed at Millfield School in Somerset, told BBC Radio Somerset: "Post-Olympics, I essentially had no money.
"I'm not a Premier League footballer. You don't make a lot of money in swimming. I guess, as a professional swimmer for four-ish years, I probably made less than £10,000."
McCusker said he worked outside of swimming and had support from his parents to fund his dream of reaching the Olympics.
He retired following the Paris Games and went into corporate work before being approached by the Enhanced Games about their inaugural event, due to take place next May in Las Vegas.
The winner of each event will pocket $500,000 (£375,000) and there will be $1m (£750,000) for those who break a world record.
"It was just an absolute no-brainer. Not just the financial side. It was out of interest," McCusker said.
"I'd done an Olympics - and barely anyone's done that - but this is another great opportunity. A great experience to do something that no-one's done before."
McCusker set a number of Irish swimming records during his career, including the 100m butterfly record twice in one day at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in 2024 and during the Irish Open the same year.
He follows his Ireland team-mate in Paris, Shane Ryan, who also announced his switch to the Enhanced Games, which Swim Ireland condemned.
A statement released by the sporting body read: "At Sport Ireland we are dedicated to safeguarding athlete health and defending the rights of the clean athlete.
"We are disappointed that any Irish high-performance athlete, past or present, would support an event so at odds with our values.
"It is the absolute antithesis of our work on behalf of a clean athlete. We condemn everything the Enhanced Games stands for."
Other athletes due to take part include Britain's Ben Proud.
Chris Jones, chief communications officer for the Enhanced Games, said that not all athletes competing in the event will choose to use performance-enhancing drugs and that "medical safety" is the "most important" thing.
"For those who do, they will be under a clinical study. An independent third party will manage that," he said.
"Athletes like Max will determine what he wants to ingest and what makes sense for him."
McCusker says he has no current understanding of how his training will progress over the next few months and what he might take, if anything at all.
He added: "I can't comment on what I'm going to do because I haven't spoken to all the people I can and I haven't had all of my tests done.
"But I'm getting asked the question: 'What's your stack going to be?' on social media."
He added that the Enhanced Games was about more than "steroids" and also about recovery, training and the technology that can be used.
"You're trying to find that one per cent all the time. Now you've got every facet you can imagine - nutrition, recovery, everything - trying to enhance your performance fully. That was a big thing for me," he said.
"You try to do these things when you are a professional athlete to the best of your ability but you don't have the finances for that.
"I wanted to see what I could do in the sport if everything was perfect."
Category: General Sports
