The swimmer Max McCusker set an Irish record for the 100m butterfly in 2024 and competed at the Paris Olympics, but his career didn’t take off in the way he thought it would.“Pretty much straight after the Paris Olympics, I retired due to mainly financial reasons,” Max tells Nosheen Iqbal. “So I just decided that, you know what, I’ve made my childhood career dream, and I had to go work in the corporate world for a bit.”Then last year a former teammate contacted him and suggested he should compete in the inaugural Enhanced Games, where performance-enhancing drugs are allowed. “I was always clean my whole career. I never failed a drug test. I never would even dabble in it,” he says. But the opportunity came with large financial incentives and the chance to compete again.“For me, it was getting back into swimming, right? Getting back into something that I loved. And you spend the best part of 15 years, maybe more, of honing a skill that’s pretty specific, right? So it’s, if someone gives you an opportunity, you’re going to be supported for once and in every way, and see what’s the most potential you can get out of yourself in this sport.”The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency has called the games dangerous and irresponsible. The Guardian’s chief sports reporter, Sean Ingle, tells Nosheen why.Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/todayinfocuspod Photograph: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile/Getty Images