Enhanced Games logo

The Enhanced Games is a planned international sports event where the athletes will not be subject to drug testing. It is headed by Aron D'Souza, Australian businessman, and meant to take place in December 2024.[1][2][3]

Content

The Enhanced Games was announced in June 2023, is intended to be annual and to include track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics and combat sports. Originally planned for December 2024, a specific date and location are not set as of July 2023,[4][5][6] and the number of athletes "maybe a couple of thousand" according to a representative.[1] Brett Fraser, chief athletics officer of the organisation, says that the planned included sports are a "core suite of products", and can be improved upon in the future.[7] The scale will depend on funding and the location is planned to be a university campus or similar facility in the southern United States.[8]

By August 2023, representatives were saying that what would take place in 2024 would be a smaller "exhibition", with a "full event" taking place in 2025.[9][6] CNN said in October 2023 that it was an open question whether the games would ever take place.[8]

The Enhanced Games is meant to be the first event of its kind to support performance enhancing drugs and not follow the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency.[10] Performance enhancing drugs will not be mandatory for participants.[11][7] Such an event has been discussed hypothetically for many years, but never been realised.[12][13][9]

People

Aron D'Souza, Australian businessman based in London, is president of the privately funded organisation.[14][1][10] He says he had the idea for the Enhanced Games in 2022, when noticing that many people at an American gym were obviously using steroids.[6] He was involved in the 2013 Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit, which led to Gawker filing for bankruptcy. In 2015, he co-founded Sargon Capital with Phillip Kingston.[15][16] According to D'Souza,

Athletes are adults ... and they have a right to do with their body what they wish - my body, my choice; your body, your choice, ... And no government, no paternalistic sports federation, should be making those decisions for athletes - particularly around products that are FDA regulated and approved.[1]

I do think fundamentally that consumers want this and athletes want this because if you go to the cinemas, no one's interested in histories in the past anymore. They're interested in superheroes and technology in the future. And this is literally what we are bringing to a reality.[8]

Olympians attached to the organisation include Brett Fraser, Roland Schoeman and Christina Smith.[17][12] Other people include geneticist George Church.[10][18]

Reactions

Fraser stated that over five hundred athletes had contacted him, asking for more information.[7] D'Souza says he has 500 "sleeper athletes" who are "breaking world records in their basement and sending us videos of it", ready for competition.[6] CNN commented in October 2023 that so far none of these athletes appeared willing to speak publicly.[8]

The International Olympic Committee responded that the "idea does not merit any comment" to a request for comment.[18][8] The Australian Olympic Committee called the idea "dangerous and irresponsible."[19][20] A representative of the Swedish Olympic Committee said "I see it as ill-conceived, short-sighted and foolhardy and something other than sport."[21] UK Anti-Doping said in a statement that "UKAD's mission is to protect sport from doping cheats. There is no place in sport for performance enhancing drugs, nor the Enhanced Games."[22] Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), said "farcical … likely illegal in many [US] states" and "a dangerous clown show, not real sport."[8]

Cyclist and olympic gold medallist Anna Meares said "Unfair, unsafe — I just don't think this is the right way to go about sport."[14] Cyclist Joseph M. Papp, suspended for doping in 2006, referred to a 1988 Weekend Update skit saying "I don't think you'd actually see guys tearing their arms off ... A doping free-for-all just invites the most ambitious person to be the most reckless person, and to take the most drugs possible without literally killing themselves."[7][23] Badminton player Susan Egelstaff stated "It cannot, and will not work. The danger is massive."[24]

Andy Miah, professor of science communication and future media at the University of Salford, called the Enhanced Games a "provocation", saying that "... the significant risk of athletes excessively enhancing and risking significant health complications is unaddressed by their materials. There is no mention of medical oversight in the competition on the website, from what I can see." Fraser said that "Each athlete must be under clinical supervision."[5][7] and according to D’Souza, "We will focus on athlete safety by mandating athletes have pre-competition full-system clinical screenings including blood tests and EKGs."[8] Science writer Ronald Bailey said "Let fans decide which play they prefer."[10] Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, said it was a "danger to health, to sport."[8]

The Spectator opined that "In any discipline, we seek only to discover who is the fastest, or the strongest, the most accurate or the most coordinated. What's absolutely crucial, at least as far as retaining spectator interest goes, is that the advantage is natural."[25] The Daily Telegraph's sports writer commented that "Remarkably it seems a more fleshed-out idea than the European Super League".[3] The Conversation said that "In a sporting world in which inequality of opportunity is already rampant, the removal of the doping ban would only deepen an existing moral failing."[26] Cyclist wondered who would be willing to sponsor the event, noting that as of late July, no sponsors were mentioned on the Enhanced Game's website.[7] D'Souza states that he has signed term sheets with prominent venture capital firms.[8] The Globe and Mail's journalist said "I will admit, I am incredibly curious to see an "enhanced" person running faster than Usain Bolt, or swimming better than Michael Phelps. But I would not want to be that person, and I bet that neither will the serious athletes who have so far managed to avoid doping infractions."[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Enhanced Games: audacious plan for sporting event without drug testing". Australian Associated Press. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023 – via The Guardian.
  2. ↑ Andres, Patrick (27 June 2023). "Enhanced Games Pitches Olympics-Style Competition for Doping Athletes". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  3. 1 2 Gibbs, Thom (30 June 2023). "In crazy world of the Enhanced Games you cannot call doping cheating any more". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Carney, Abby (27 June 2023). "Welcome to the Enhanced Games, Where Doping is A-Okay". Runner's World. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  5. 1 2 Cumming, Ed (3 July 2023). "A dope-friendly Olympics could be the future – but it ignores one awkward truth". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Bourke, Latika (31 August 2023). "The man planning an Olympic-style event where doping is allowed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Witts, James (28 July 2023). "What if doping were completely legal? Welcome to the Enhanced Games". Cyclist. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Stazicker, Molly (30 October 2023). "A doping free-for-all Enhanced Games calls itself the answer to doping in sports. Opponents say it poses a danger to health". CNN. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  9. 1 2 Huber, Martin Fritz (9 August 2023). "The Dangerous Promise of the Pro-Doping "Enhanced Games"". Outside. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Bailey, Ronald (29 June 2023). "The Enhanced Olympics: Drugs welcome!". Reason. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  11. ↑ Wheeler, Daniel (4 July 2023). "Enhanced Games could have negative impact". The Gleaner. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  12. 1 2 Overend, Riley (22 June 2023). "An Olympics Without Drug Testing? Why the Enhanced Games Has Support of (Some) Swimmers". SwimSwam. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  13. ↑ Tobin, Chris (13 July 2023). "Enhanced Games 'dangerous, unethical, not in best interests of athletes': Drugs Free Sport NZ". Stuff. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  14. 1 2 Wilson, Jeremy (26 June 2023). "Drug-taking 'Enhanced Games' aims to rival Olympics with 2024 launch". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  15. ↑ Butler, Ben (24 January 2020). "Australian who helped Peter Thiel bankrupt Gawker sues ex-business partner". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  16. ↑ Mac, Ryan (23 February 2018). "This Man Helped Peter Thiel Demolish Gawker". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  17. ↑ Bloom, Ben (30 June 2023). "The Enhanced Games – a drugs Olympics where cheaters can prosper". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  18. 1 2 Kamath, Amit (9 July 2023). "Games on steroids? Inside an Indian-origin man's plan to organise Enhanced Games". The Indian Express. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  19. ↑ "Australian man plans Enhanced Games for doping athletes". Associated Press. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  20. ↑ Mendoza, Jordan (26 June 2023). "Olympics with no drug testing? Australian man plans Enhanced Games with doping allowed". USA Today. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Idrott: "The Enhanced Games" – mästerskapet där alla får dopa sig". Sveriges Television (in Swedish). 26 June 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "UKAD statement on The Enhanced Games". UK Anti-Doping. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  23. ↑ "Weekend Update: Kevin Nealon on the All-Drug Olympics - SNL". Saturday Night Live. 1988. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  24. ↑ Egelstaff, Susan (9 July 2023). "No place in sport for an Olympic-style Games for drug-takers". The Herald. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  25. ↑ Reilly, Damian (26 June 2023). "Why the Enhanced Games won't work". The Spectator. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  26. ↑ Devine, John William (11 July 2023). "The Enhanced Games: letting athletes use drugs could lead to worse problems than cheating". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  27. ↑ Cyr, Alex (13 January 2024). "Opinion: Will the Enhanced Games survive the stigma around doping in sports?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
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