The drug-free Olympic gold medallist risking it all to compete at the Enhanced Games

Hunter Armstrong is a former 50-metre backstroke world record holder and an Olympic gold medallist.

The 25-year-old American swimmer is a seven-time world champion, mostly in relays, and has built a decorated career previously untouched by the sort of drama that he has now placed himself in the middle of.

Armstrong has shown himself to be the kind of athlete young swimmers in his part of Ohio could admire without hesitation: a devout Christian, a trained school teacher, and a passionate Olympian with a clean record.

Lately, things have been different.

“I’m supposed to have a kids’ swimming clinic this weekend, but the parents protested. I ended up getting dropped for that,” Armstrong said.

Next month, Armstrong will compete at the Enhanced Games – the controversial new one-day event that has pitched itself as a radical alternative to the Olympics – in the 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke, chasing life-changing prize money of $US250,000 ($350,000) for victory in each race.

But there is a twist: he will race without performance-enhancing drugs in his system.

“I’m not going to say to your kids, ‘Hey everybody, let’s take steroids’,” Armstrong told this masthead from Ohio. “I’m still me. Everything that I’ve accomplished in this sport was before the Enhanced Games. Even though I’m still not taking enhancements, it’s been pretty frustrating. I’m sort of getting excommunicated from my sport.”

After years of controversy, the Enhanced Games are set to bulldoze their way into full view in Las Vegas on May 24.

The concept is simple and incendiary: athletes in swimming, athletics and weightlifting are permitted to use performance-enhancing substances under medical supervision, chasing enormous prize money while pushing the limits of what the human body can do.

It is a model that has horrified many in mainstream sport and intrigued others, particularly athletes who feel the financial rewards of Olympic competition fall well short of the sacrifices required to get there.

Unlike former Australian swimmer James Magnussen, who has been training in Abu Dhabi with other Enhanced Games athletes, Armstrong wants to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Armstrong’s view is that if he remains in a registered testing pool and continues to return negative drug tests, he should be entitled to do both.

That is the big gamble.

Armstrong, by his own admission, has everything to lose. The threat of expulsion from Olympic and World Aquatics competition looms over his head. He is the only “non-enhanced” swimmer competing in Vegas.

“When the Enhanced Games came out, my first thought was, ‘Oh man, if I could do this and stay in the normal part of the sport, that’d be great’,” Armstrong said.

“The idea always fascinated me … but after pretty much my entire life fell through, I felt I had no option but to reopen that door and see if this was a plausible option.”

After the Paris Olympics in 2024, Armstrong’s major sponsor walked away. Suddenly, he was juggling four jobs – in real estate, woodwork, teaching and swimming coaching – to keep up the mortgage repayments on a new home.

Swimming, a sport not known for high salaries, was no longer paying the bills.

Around the same time, Armstrong watched Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev pocket a $US1 million bonus ($1.4 million) from Enhanced Games organisers for breaking the men’s 50m freestyle world record while filming a documentary.

Gkolomeev finished fifth in the event at the Paris Olympics, behind Australian gold medallist Cam McEvoy, who broke the official 50m freestyle world record last month. McEvoy has never taken performance-enhancing substances.

Magnussen, after months of injecting peptides and testosterone, hoped it would be his cash, but it wasn’t to be.

“That was so cool,” Armstrong said of Gkolomeev’s time of 20.89. “I still think he could have gone faster if he was racing somebody else.”

After seeking extensive legal advice, Armstrong believes there is nothing stopping him from competing in the Enhanced Games and then, two years later, trying to fulfil his “dream” of swimming at a home Olympics.

However, World Aquatics introduced a by-law last year aimed at athletes who align with the Enhanced Games, but Armstrong believes his case is legally sound.

He is under the impression that a ban would only apply if he stopped following World Aquatics’ rules and regulations in the lead-up to a major competition, such as a world championships or Olympics.

World Aquatics has not made a specific ruling on Armstrong’s particular situation, telling ESPN last month that decisions would be made on a “case-by-case” basis.

“I’ve still heard absolutely nothing,” Armstrong said. “There haven’t been any meets to enter where I could test it. The only way to know is to actually do both and see if they stop me.

“I’ve been in the [drug] testing pool since before Tokyo, and they have never stopped testing me. I’m continually proving that I’m not partaking in anything against the rules, so there should be no reason to be banned.

“I’m risking my reputation to do this, and I’ve lost a lot of opportunity because of this stigma, which is completely out of nowhere and illogical.”

For now, Armstrong is guilty by association in the eyes of some, caught in the moral crossfire surrounding an event that has already drawn fierce criticism.

Australian Olympic great Kieren Perkins warned two years ago that “someone would die”, while another now-retired swimming legend, Ariarne Titmus, has said she would not compete even for $10 million, such was her disgust at the premise of an event that allows athletes to race with substances in their bodies that would ordinarily trigger bans in top-level sport.

Armstrong, however, argues the reality is more nuanced.

The Enhanced Games are underpinned by medical oversight, with doctors supervising athletes and only FDA-approved substances permitted. Illegal substances are not allowed to be taken, which rules out the random gym junkie pumping his or her body with every steroid under the sun. Organisers are adamant they will not jeopardise the health of athletes.

“Most of the negative feedback that I’ve seen about the Enhanced Games is that they’re just going to juice everybody up with a ton of illegal and super unsafe stuff and see how fast the human body can really go. That’s just so far from the truth,” Armstrong said.

“Every athlete has a choice in what they take. You don’t have to dope at all if you don’t want to.

“I see no reason for somebody to be against the Enhanced Games, other than people don’t like things that are new.

“I think this is going to be huge. People inherently don’t like change. A lot of the people who are against the Enhanced Games haven’t taken the time to look into what is actually being done. They read something on social media, form an opinion, and don’t move on from it.

“I hope the majority of people will use their brains. I understand [the backlash], I respect it, but if you have a problem with me or Enhanced, talk to me.”

Armstrong would not say how much he is being paid by organisers, other than to suggest it is enough to help with his mortgage repayments. He hopes to become an elementary school teacher when his swimming career ends, and knows this may be his best chance to make meaningful money from the sport to set up his future.

Asked for his views on the prize money offered to elite swimmers more broadly, Armstrong replied: “I can’t talk on that, sorry.”

Armstrong is, understandably, trying to tread carefully. He does not want to openly attack World Aquatics, but may yet find himself in a legal battle if he is barred from the 2027 world championships in Budapest or the Olympics the following year. USA Swimming could also make life difficult for him. It is a fascinating test case.

For now, the kids clinics are off, but Armstrong says he has received private messages from many swimmers around the world – some supportive, some envious, all curious about whether he can pull off the double.

“Swimmers I haven’t talked to in years and Olympians from other countries all message me and say, ‘That’s awesome, I wish I could do the same thing’. I won’t name-drop those athletes because if I am wrong in my assumption that I can do both, I don’t want them to get in trouble,” Armstrong said.

“I pride myself in being a good person. I love working with kids and being a role model, but if I’m banned or seen as a cheater, I can lose opportunities.

“I foresee this being a really big thing and continuing for a very long time.

“It’s almost like a movie.”

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.