In a statement on social media,, external Aquatics GB said: “Aquatics GB is immensely disappointed in Ben Proud’s announcement to sign with the Enhanced Games.

“Aquatics GB, along with our partners, stand firmly behind the values and principles of clean sport and condemns Ben’s decision in the strongest terms.”

UK Sport said it is working with Aquatics GB “as a matter of urgency to determine Ben Proud’s suitability to receive public funds” and that any breach of anti-doping rules contravenes policies athletes must comply with to receive UK Sport funding.

UK Sport added it “condemns everything the Enhanced Games stands for in the strongest possible terms” and is “incredibly disappointed” that any British athletes in its programmes would support such an event.

Earlier this year, World Aquatics became the first international sport federation to ban athletes, coaches and officials from its events if they have taken part in the Enhanced Games.

Proud has previously supported UK Anti-Doping’s Clean Sport Week while British team-mates Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott have been outspoken against doping.

Proud said he sees ‘traditional sport’ and the Enhanced Games as “two very separate entities”, and that he found athletes breaking the rules “incredibly frustrating”.

“I see doping in clean sports as a complete no-go,” he said. “I don’t have any time for that.

“The fact it’s still happening is a problem. It’ll always be a cat and mouse game, there will always be people developing new techniques or people getting away with things.

“That’s one thing that has ruined sport for a lot of people. The anti-doping agencies just don’t have the ability to completely make sure everyone is clean and on a level playing field, and that to me has always been the biggest frustration.

“If you were part of my life for the past 12, 13 years, you’d see how much time you have to allocate to making sure we’re available to be tested on a daily basis, making sure we’re constantly giving our samples.”

When asked for comment, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) referred BBC Sport to its previous statement on the Enhanced Games, condemning it as a “a dangerous and irresponsible concept”.

Wada’s latest Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) report, external was published in July, covering 2022. It said that from 241,143 samples, 1,979 (0.82%) were reported to be adverse findings, of which 1,376 (69.5%) resulted in an ADRV.