This swimming star didn’t just break a swimming world record. He shattered the quiet, unspoken code of traditional sports by doing it on a controversial new stage. With a 50m freestyle sprint clocked at 20.89 seconds, he became the fastest man in water, edging past a 15-year-old benchmark. But instead of universal applause, the Greek Olympian was bombarded with backlash. Why? Because his record came at the Enhanced Games. A new arena that not only permits but also encourages performance-enhancing drugs! And who are we referring to? It’s Kristian Gkolomeev.
The uproar was swift and fierce. Critics painted Gkolomeev as a sellout, a cheater, or worse. But amid the noise, one voice cut through, his wife’s. In an emotional but pointed public defense, she made it clear: this wasn’t a secretive doping scandal. It was a calculated, transparent, and legal move by an athlete who had spent over a decade playing by the rules. And barely scraping by.
Now, he had simply chosen a new system that finally paid him what he was worth. Taking to her X account, she revealed that after Gkolomeev retired from traditional competition, he took up the Enhanced Games offer as a business decision. His training regimen included a tightly supervised 12-week cycle of medically prescribed substances. Nothing more, nothing hidden.
“To those questioning his health,” she stated firmly, “Kristian isn’t taking anything now. He took small, medically prescribed doses for just 12 weeks under supervision, and he won’t take anything again until next year’s preparation begins. This isn’t abuse. This isn’t secrecy. This is a legal, transparent, and structured plan that was designed to help him perform—and it worked.” Speaking more about the issue, his wife stated that Gkolomeev’s career was marked by sacrifice.
A Letter from Lindsay Gkolomeev, Wife of the Fastest Swimmer in History: pic.twitter.com/ZNfIA6xhmT
— Enhanced Games (@enhanced_games) May 25, 2025
For 13 years, Gkolomeev lived under the strict rules of WADA. Constantly reporting his whereabouts, never slipping up, never testing positive. His only supplement during that time? Creatine. Even while ranking among the top eight swimmers in the world, his earnings were shockingly low. Sometimes just $5,000 a year. He had followed the system, worked relentlessly, and competed at the highest level. Yet the rewards never matched the effort.
The Enhanced Games changed that. They offered not just money, but respect and medical oversight. They didn’t pretend athletes were superhuman. They acknowledged what it took to push limits. Kristian Gkolomeev, for the first time in his professional life, felt valued. And his wife made sure the world knew it. Her message wasn’t just about defending her husband.
It was about exposing a broken system that leaves even elite athletes underpaid and underappreciated. In her eyes, this wasn’t cheating; it was justice. Gkolomeev didn’t cross a line, he walked away from a game that had never played fair. And with one powerful swim, he proved that athletes can still win. Just not always where you expect them to. Meanwhile, despite his shining performance, an Olympic champion swimmer lashed out at Gkolomeev.
Cameron McEvoy blasts Kristian Gkolomeev’s drug-assisted record
Cameron McEvoy isn’t holding back. The reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 50m freestyle has flatly dismissed Kristian Gkolomeev’s new world record, achieved under the banner of the doping-friendly Enhanced Games. Labeling the feat irrelevant, McEvoy’s fury cuts through the noise surrounding a competition many view as a threat to the integrity of sport.
“It doesn’t count in any way, shape or form when you take drugs or wear one of the banned suits, or both,” McEvoy told the Sydney Morning Herald. His criticism comes days after Gkolomeev clocked an astonishing 20.89 seconds, shaving off two hundredths from Cesar Cielo’s long-standing 2009 record. But McEvoy, who recently took home two golds at the Sydney Open, dismissed the result as a product of artificial enhancement, not athletic greatness.
He added, “It’s got no relevance to Olympic or World Championship 50-meter comps or to the international rankings around them.” On the other hand, McEvoy also warned against the unknown dangers of drug-assisted performance. Citing historical misjudgments, like early misuse of radioactive materials, he cautioned that this experiment could spiral into something far worse.
“Humans in the past have underestimated what they don’t yet fully understand,” he noted, adding, “It seems unwise to think that in this context the prioritization of performance over safety is immune to this same hubris.” Kristian Gkolomeev’s record, achieved just two weeks after beginning a performance-enhancing drug regime, may have brought him a €1 million payday. But to McEvoy, it brought nothing of value to the sport he defends.
The post Bashed for Joining Enhanced Games, Swimming Star Defended By Wife For Life Changing Decision appeared first on EssentiallySports.
