Shane Ryan: Ireland on Enhanced Games & Why Opinions Don’t Pay
Here’s a summary of the key information from the provided text:
* The Enhanced Games: A new sporting tournament backed by Silicon Valley tycoons and Donald Trump Jr. is gaining athletes. It explicitly allows performance enhancement (likely referring to doping).
* Growing Roster: While a dozen athletes have been announced, more have signed up, including a full roster of weightlifters.
* Shane Ryan: An Irish swimmer with 10 Irish records has joined the Enhanced Games. He’s described as a “solid, middle-of-the-road” athlete, but valued for his dialogue skills.
* Criticism: Ryan’s decision has drawn criticism from Irish officials,similar to the reaction when Olympic silver medalist ben Proud (from Britain) joined the games. UK Sport and Aquatics GB were also “immensely disappointed” by Proud’s participation.
* Purpose: The Enhanced Games are positioned as a direct challenge to traditional, drug-tested sports.