ASCA Offers Opposition to Enhanced Games with ‘Core Values’ of Clean Sport
The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) joined the chorus of opposition to the Enhanced Games in a statement on Friday.
The association used the opportunity to “reaffirm its unwavering commitment to clean sport, athlete safety, and the core values that underpin fair and ethical competition” while praising USA Swimming leaders for rejecting the Enhanced Games.
The full statement is available here.
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The statement reads in part:
The Enhanced Games’ promotion of performance-enhancing drugs directly contradicts what ASCA believes in and works to uphold. Our association has long supported strict anti-doping measures, comprehensive education, and a culture of clean sport. We will oppose any initiative that compromises athlete health, violates the spirit of competition, or undermines decades of progress in safeguarding fairness in sport.
The idea of rewarding or glorifying enhancement as restricted by WADA, USADA and other Anti-Doping agencies endangers athletes and sends a dangerous message to future generations. ASCA will continue to advocate for environments where athletes succeed through discipline, training, and integrity—not pharmacology.
The World Anti-Doping Agency and a number of top swimmers have condemned the anything-goes nature of the Enhanced Games. USA Swimming and other bodies have provided warnings to their swimmers as to the ramifications of such competition, whose standards stand in direct opposition of sanctioned global competition.
I think the Enhanced Games is a valid idea, and I hope people will understand the enhanced performances have very little relevance to non-enhanced performances. I hope they can exist side-by-side, with athletes and viewers seeing them as separate enterprises, but I don’t think that will happen. I’m also not a fan of the for-profit structure of the Enhanced Games.