LAS VEGAS, May 24, 2024
The Enhanced Games: A Bold—or Reckless—Experiment in Doping?
Table of Contents
A new sporting competition is set to launch, openly permitting performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision, sparking intense debate.
- The Enhanced Games, launching in Las Vegas, will allow athletes to use substances approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- The event aims to create transparency around performance enhancement, contrasting with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) restrictions.
- Critics have condemned the games as dangerous and a threat to fair play, with concerns raised about athlete health and the integrity of sport.
- Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev is slated to receive $1 million (£739,000) for potentially breaking a world record in a time trial.
A new sporting competition is poised to redefine the boundaries of athletic achievement—and risk. The Enhanced Games, scheduled to begin in Las Vegas on May 24, proposes a radical departure from traditional sports by openly permitting the use of performance-enhancing drugs, albeit under strict medical supervision. This controversial concept, first introduced in 2023, is already igniting a firestorm of debate within the athletic community.
What Sets the Enhanced Games Apart?
The core principle of the Enhanced Games lies in its acceptance of what has long been a taboo subject in elite sports: doping. However, unlike clandestine doping practices, the Enhanced Games will only allow athletes to use substances that have been approved by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This differs significantly from the list of prohibited substances maintained by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Organisers claim this approach “will deliver transparency and health safety by removing the stigma of enhancement – bringing its responsible usage into the light, within an approved medical framework, and one that protects athletes who would otherwise risk their health by operating in the dark to circumvent punitive structures in place today.”
A Storm of Criticism
The Enhanced Games has faced fierce opposition from anti-doping authorities and sporting bodies. WADA has labelled the event a “dangerous and irresponsible project,” while Travis Tygart, chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, dismissed it as a “clown show.” Earlier this month, UK Athletics (UKA) stated it did not recognise the Enhanced Games as a “legitimate sporting competition.”
UKA expressed serious concerns about athlete welfare, stating that the event “places athletes’ health and welfare at serious risk,” and that “any event that promotes or permits the use of harmful substances with the aim of pushing the human body to its limit for short-term goals is not sport as we value it.”
Initial Events and Potential Rewards
The Enhanced Games are planned as an annual competition, initially featuring short-distance swimming, sprinting, and weightlifting. The inaugural event in Las Vegas will offer substantial financial incentives to participants. Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev is set to receive a $1 million (£739,000) prize if he surpasses the world record in a time trial scheduled for February 2025.
Organisers reported that Gkolomeev swam 20.89 seconds in a 50m freestyle time trial, 0.02 seconds faster than the world record set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in December 2009. However, World Aquatics will not recognize this time.
The Enhanced Games represent a provocative challenge to the established norms of competitive sports. Whether it will usher in a new era of transparency or simply endanger athletes remains to be seen.
