{"id":123703,"date":"2025-10-15T13:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/123703\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:29:11","slug":"you-have-no-idea-of-the-shitstorm-that-ive-caused-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/123703\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You have no idea of the shitstorm that I\u2019ve caused\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh Jesus,\u201d says Shane Ryan<\/a>. \u201cYou have no idea of the shitstorm that I\u2019ve caused.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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<\/a> has broken. There\u2019s been criticism from far and wide, from Sport Ireland, from Swim Ireland, from journalists<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019ll tell you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI represented Ireland to the best of my ability,\u201d he says. \u201cBeen 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\u2019m literally one of the fastest backstrokers in history. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something you can\u2019t change. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve done and I\u2019ve closed that book. But when it comes down to it, when you step outside of that swimming world, money is what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve honed this craft for so long and I\u2019m 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\u2019m already on a contract for nine months and I\u2019m guaranteed pretty much over $200,000 by the end of May. But if I win my events, there\u2019s the chance to win more.<\/p>\n

\"ShaneShane Ryan on his way to winning a bronze medal for Ireland at the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships. Photograph: Andrea Masini\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cI had the fifth fastest swim in history there in December in the 50 backstroke and I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m still there\u2019. But if I can get my shoulder back, oh boy, can I be fast. So that\u2019s why it was a hard decision for me to do this. But at the same time … people\u2019s opinions aren\u2019t going to put food on my table. People\u2019s opinions aren\u2019t going to pay for my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first approach came last year, before the Paris Olympics. The head swim coach at the Enhanced Games is an Australian named Brett Hawke \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u20ac20,000 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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\u2019t have any money. I was a broke college kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggled and I\u2019ve continued to struggle for years, mentally and physically. And I\u2019m just like, \u2018You know what? I need to take a step back and realise.\u2019 It was a hard decision but at the same time I need to do what\u2019s best for me and my future. <\/p>\n

\u201cDoing this, first and foremost, is going to get my body right. I\u2019m going to get the right care. But also financially, I\u2019m going to come out of this better. A lot of people are like, \u2018What about the integrity?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, I did the integrity for over a decade.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, I have a friend who works at Lockheed Martin. He\u2019s an engineer for making missiles. That\u2019s kind of similar. Like, yes, he\u2019s not pulling the trigger. But at the same time though, it\u2019s a difficult thing but it\u2019s a good paying job. This is a good paying job and I\u2019m with my friends doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, so let\u2019s get into what we\u2019re 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\u2019s on the menu, exactly? <\/p>\n

\"ShaneShane Ryan says taking part in the Enhanced Games ‘is going to get my body right’. Photograph: Andrea Staccioli\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know yet,\u201d he says. \u201cI know I\u2019ve done my research on testosterone and HGH. That\u2019s not something that I\u2019m interested in. EPO is something that is more associated with long distance but there\u2019s 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\u2019re not forcing us to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019re paying you more money than you\u2019ve ever earned in your life \u2013 surely you have to do what they say?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I kind of want to do it anyway for myself,\u201d he says. \u201cFirst, I want to help get my shoulder back into play. But also at the same time, I\u2019m done with Olympic swimming. I want to also build up a little bit, but in a healthy manner. <\/p>\n

\u201cImagine 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\u2019s bad, really bad. Now I\u2019m doing it the right way. I\u2019m getting paid to do it. I\u2019m learning how to do it the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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\u2019s what it is. This is a job, this is a marketing job. But also we\u2019re doing it to have fun. We\u2019re also here to push the limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hang on, a marketing job?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, there\u2019s a firm. Or there\u2019s like a little thing where we\u2019ll be kind of pushing the products and stuff like that eventually later down the road. That\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re marketing but also at the same time, we\u2019re doing something different. We support clean sport but this is a different sport that we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan says he hasn\u2019t taken anything yet. For the moment, he\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

At times during our conversation, it feels like he\u2019s reaching a little. He compares the Enhanced Games at various points to both LIV Golf<\/a> and the WWE<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"ShaneShane Ryan says when he swam for Ireland, he sometimes wondered why he didn’t get enough recognition. Photograph: Bryan Keane\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, my mom\u2019s not a big believer in it,\u201d he concedes. \u201cBut that\u2019s mainly more for my health than anything else, which I fully respect. I respect everyone\u2019s opinion on it. But we\u2019re doing this in a safe manner. If there\u2019s any point where it does get unhealthy, I\u2019m gonna stop and pull out.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what about the morality of it? Does he wrestle with that at all?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I will a little bit,\u201d he says. \u201cBut 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\u2019s best for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019m like, I am getting all that and I\u2019m getting paid and I\u2019m being respected in the way I should be respected. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd at the same time, money. It\u2019s the money. It\u2019s what I want to do with my life. And also I\u2019m gonna come out of this with a better body. I\u2019m gonna get my shoulder fixed, I\u2019m gonna get my body fixed and come out a bit stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s where he\u2019s at. Take it or leave it. He knows he won\u2019t convince most people that it\u2019s the right thing to do but he\u2019s not going to lose a lot of sleep over that. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOh Jesus,\u201d says Shane Ryan. \u201cYou have no idea of the shitstorm that I\u2019ve caused.\u201d It\u2019s early morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,73267,19,17,9714,73266,75255,132,10905],"class_list":{"0":"post-123703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-enhanced-games","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-olympic-games","13":"tag-shane-ryan","14":"tag-sport-ireland","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-swimming"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}