Australian swim star Kyle Chalmers says he can't blame clean athletes for competing at the Enhanced Games, believing more will be lured by the prospect of a "slightly better financial situation".
The debate around financial prizes for Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions has erupted after the pro-doping Enhanced Games were staged last month in Las Vegas.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry had lit a fuse just days after the now largely panned multi-sport event took place, declaring she didn't believe in awarding cash bonuses for medals.
The Enhanced Games had offered a total prize pool of $US25 million ($A36 million), dangling carrots of $US250,000 ($A357,000) for event winners and a $US1 million ($A1.4 million) bonus for breaking official world records.
Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals aren't financially compensated by the IOC, but Australia does have a medal incentive fund.
Chalmers, 27, said money had become "important to me more than ever" after the birth of his first child Astrid.
The Rio Olympics gold medallist is competing at Australia's Commonwealth Games trials self-funded, setting himself back by $5000.
"As sad as it is, I'm never going to knock an athlete for trying to better their life or their family's life," Chalmers said.
"I chose my choice (with the Enhanced Games), which I'm very proud of ... but money is actually more important to me more than ever.
"I would have got less prize money for those 48 international medals than (US swimmer) Hunter Armstrong, who raced clean at the Enhanced Games and got $375,000 for two races.
"It's really sad to see how uneven it is, especially when an IOC president comes out and makes pretty harsh comments."
Chalmers hasn't been the only Australian swimmer putting the sport's governing bodies on notice, with world record-holder Cameron McEvoy among the strongest voices.
"I truly believe that more and more athletes will be more inclined to go across there and walk away from the sport in a slightly better financial situation than what they would have if they chose the right path," Chalmers said.
"I just feel like it's on me to actually speak up so people actually understand, because I think there's a very big false narrative out there.
"That if you're an Olympic athlete winning gold medals, that you've kind of set yourself up in life where it's very far from the truth.
"It's very easy for a lot of us swimmers to voice our concerns at times, but nothing seems to change.
"There are millions of dollars being left in bank accounts of people who are using our image and our performances for and we don't reap the rewards."
