Do we like them?

Do we like Cameron McEvoy?

Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean run on both tests, but the record is thin: no harm found, and little beyond sport and athlete-pay advocacy to set against it.

McEvoy's story is a comeback. He swam at three Olympics, then took about 12 months away and came back heavily de-trained. At 29 he rebuilt with coach Tim Lane on a different training approach and won the 50m freestyle at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka in 21.06.

Then came Paris 2024. McEvoy won the Olympic 50m freestyle in 21.25 seconds, 0.05 ahead of Britain's Ben Proud, which made him the oldest Australian to win Olympic gold at 30. He said afterwards he felt he could use his new training approach to help people around the world and push sprinting forward.

The big stoush of his recent career is the Enhanced Games, the Las Vegas event that allows banned drugs. In May 2025 he told the Sydney Morning Herald that a claimed record there didn't count when swimmers take drugs or wear a banned suit. He also raised concern about the long-term health risks of performance-enhancing drugs. World Aquatics and WADA have publicly condemned the event.

In March 2026 he broke Cesar Cielo's 50m freestyle world record with a 20.88 at the China Open. When the Enhanced Games ran, Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev clocked 20.81 and won almost AUD $1.4 million, though the time doesn't count with the governing bodies. McEvoy posted pointed memes on Instagram; fellow Australian James Magnussen, who swam at the Games, fired back that McEvoy was at home talking about them.

On the harm test, there's honestly not much to report. Searches on LGBTQ+ people, women, race, migrants, climate and public health turned up nothing from McEvoy, in either direction. The only public stance found is against banned-drug sport, and he has no sign of harmful company in his recent work. He passes, but it is a quiet pass: we can't say he's been an outspoken ally either.

On the good-person test, no lawsuits, sanctions or credible allegations turned up in the searches. His 2023 comeback credits his coach and the Queensland Academy of Sport staff who backed his unusual training, and he has pushed publicly for clean athletes. That's a decent, if modest, public record.