The inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas will feature athletes using banned performance-enhancing drugs, sparking controversy and debate. Critics argue it normalizes doping and undermines anti-cheating efforts.
Key points
Enhanced Games feature athletes using banned performance-enhancing drugs
Event takes place in Las Vegas this weekend
Critics argue it normalizes doping and risks athlete health
Supporters claim it celebrates athletic excellence and innovation
Event raises questions about the future of sports and doping
On the neon-clad Strip in Las Vegas - a city known for pushing boundaries in the pursuit of entertainment and profit - one of the most controversial events in sports history is about to take centre stage.
Featuring athletes who have taken performance-boosting drugs banned in mainstream competition, the inaugural Enhanced Games will finally happen this weekend, provoking both dismay and intrigue.
For the many critics, 'Sin City' provides a fitting backdrop to what they see as a disturbing spectacle, one which they say normalises doping, undermines the long fight against cheating and risks the health of those taking part.
Those behind the so-called 'Steroid Olympics' insist the event will reward athletic excellence, celebrate scientific innovation and explore human potential.
So what forces lie behind the Enhanced Games? Is it a sign of things to come? And what questions is it forcing sport - and wider society - to confront?
Three months have passed since a group of about 40 Enhanced Games athletes representing sprinting, swimming and weightlifting gathered in Abu Dhabi for an all-expenses-paid training camp in a luxury resort boasting state-of-the-art sports facilities.
Enticed there by the kind of appearance fees that most could only dream of, along with the tantalising prospect of a $1m prize if they could beat the world record in their discipline, the event presented an opportunity to extend or revive sporting careers.
And then there were the drugs.
At a hospital about 20 minutes' drive away on the outskirts of the city, the athletes were offered individually tailored programmes of 'enhancement protocols' - substances strictly prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) but allowed there.
While the competitors are yet to declare exactly what they have each taken, it can be revealed that the performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) administered included testosterone, anabolic steroids (such as methenolone and nandrolone), hormones and growth factors (including HGH and EPO), metabolic modulators and stimulants.
While organisers have emphasised that these substances were all approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and given as part of a clinical trial under strict medical supervision with all participants monitored, the project has been condemned by sports bodies and anti-doping authorities.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Wada called it "immoral" and "a dangerous and irresponsible concept" in a joint statement last year. World Aquatics then became the first governing body to ban anyone involved with the Enhanced Games from its events. UK Sport said it might withdraw funding from any athletes signing up.
For decades, sport has waged an arduous battle against drugs cheats, in a bid to preserve the integrity of competition and ensure those watching can believe what they see.
Now, here was an event that, for many, violated the traditional principles which clean sport relies upon. One that, whatever organisers might say about it being separate from mainstream sport, would set a bad example and could lead to increased cheating in conventional competition.
Q&A
What are the Enhanced Games and why are they controversial?
The Enhanced Games are a sporting event featuring athletes who use banned performance-enhancing drugs, raising concerns about normalizing doping and health risks.
When and where will the Enhanced Games take place?
The Enhanced Games will take place this weekend in Las Vegas, a city known for its boundary-pushing entertainment.
What arguments do supporters of the Enhanced Games make?
Supporters argue that the Enhanced Games will celebrate athletic excellence, scientific innovation, and explore human potential.
How might the Enhanced Games impact the future of sports?
The Enhanced Games could challenge traditional views on doping in sports and force society to confront difficult questions about performance enhancement.
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Those behind the Enhanced Games rely on a number of arguments to defend the concept:
The existing system fails to properly reward athletes whose talents and dedication provide the entertainment that sports bodies depend on to generate revenue. The IOC says it redistributes 90% of its revenue, and UK Sport says it does as much as it can to provide athletes with financial support. But all the Enhanced Games athletes who BBC Sport spoke to when granted access to the training camp in February said money was their main motivation and felt they had been underpaid during their careers.
The fight against doping has been shown to be futile, expensive and inconsistent, with the framework of rules and sanctions driving doping underground, where the use of masking agents make it even more dangerous to athletes' health. Enhanced Games organisers insist an approach based on freedom, choice and openness - but conducted in a controlled way - is preferable. So might the Enhanced Games force more of a debate around anti-doping? Last year David Howman, who chairs the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and previously led Wada, admitted the anti-doping system had "stalled", saying "we are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats". But that does not mean public support for the rules is fading. Surveys, external have shown that the majority still believe protecting fair sport is crucial and support bans for cheats.
The Enhanced Games will showcase a new frontier for self-optimisation and the use of science to push biological boundaries. This is much more than a sports event. In March the company behind the Enhanced Games launched a "personalised medicine and supplement platform" on its website, hailing its "performance and longevity products", including hormone replacement therapy for men and women, peptides and weight-loss medication.
"I believe consumers will observe the tangible results Enhanced Group's athletes achieve and seek to apply those enhancements to their own lives," says German venture capitalist Christan Angermayer, who is Enhanced's co-founder, largest shareholder and an investor in a psychedelic biotech company.
Other backers include tech billionaire Peter Thiel - a libertarian who has advised Donald Trump - and 1789 Capital, an investment fund in which Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of the US president, is a partner.
"Enhanced Group's sport event will massively enlarge the market, making millions and millions of people aware of the power of enhancements who would otherwise not be," says Angermayer, in comments that will only reinforce the view that the event is being used as a marketing tool.
"I believe we are just at the beginning of a global, decade-long mega-trend of human enhancement and consumer biotech."
The Games take place at a time when concerns are being raised over the medicalisation of Western society, with social media and 'looksmaxxing' blamed for fuelling demand for weight-loss injections, cosmetic treatments and performance substances.
According to UK Anti-Doping (Ukad), a "concerning" number of young people are being exposed to social media adverts for "life-threatening" performance-enhancing substances on a regular basis.
In the US, the FDA is considering easing restrictions on the use of peptide injections after Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr pushed to have the therapies deregulated.
The move was welcomed by Enhanced, which said it was "planning to offer access to additional peptides".
Synthetic types of peptides have historically been injected by weightlifters and bodybuilders to enhance performance, but critics warn they can present a variety of health issues.
Ukad chief executive Jane Rumble told BBC Sport that the Enhanced Games "sends a dangerous message about PEDs, with little if anything said about the health risks associated, and those risks are significant".
Professor Ian Broadley of Birmingham University, whose research has been supported by Wada, says competitors run the risk of a greater chance of heart attacks and psychiatric issues and that organisers' assurances over medical supervision were "incorrect and misleading"., external
James Magnussen with his arms outstretchedImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Australian James Magnussen came out of retirement to compete in the Enhanced Games
BBC Sport asked Enhanced's Australian swimmer James Magnussen, whose remarkably bulked up physique after taking PEDs last year went viral, if he had concerns about the effect on his long-term health.
"I believe that were there to be long-term implications for my health, there surely would have been some short- to medium-term indicators that say 'hey, this isn't tracking properly, you are seeing side effects'. To this point we haven't seen those," the three-time Olympic medallist said.
"As professional athletes, we take risks with our health innately by what we do. There's nothing healthy about training at the peak of your physical ability for 30 hours a week."
Some think the former world champion has a point.
Byron Hyde, an honorary research associate at Bangor University, says, external critics "overlook the fact that the Enhanced Games is making obvious what society has always quietly accepted – that most people are willing to watch athletes risk harm when the entertainment is good enough.
"That's something that all sporting bodies should spend more time considering.
"If brain trauma is the potential price of boxing entertainment, why the outrage about pharmaceutical enhancement risks? The Olympics already celebrates athletes who push their bodies to extremes.
"Research has documented serious physical and psychological harms in many sports. The Enhanced Games just moves the risk threshold further along a spectrum society has already accepted."
Such an argument holds little sway with UK Sport director Kate Baker.
"We are committed to winning well," she tells BBC Sport. "We know that we've had some things in the past that we haven't necessarily been proud of, but we've moved so far away from that.
"And so to even acknowledge the Enhanced Games as a real thing feels quite difficult for us. It's absolutely something that we would stand in total opposition to.
"If you're high potential in our system, you will be supported to achieve your potential, and you will do it in a way which is healthy and not damaging to you.
"We've recently re-communicated with all of our athletes to confirm that you will potentially be in breach of our eligibility policy should you choose to engage with these events. They would not be eligible for any UK Sport funding, but also their ability to access our coaching and medical support."
As the debate rages, in Las Vegas a purpose-built arena is ready to welcome more than 2,000 invited guests to an event that will be streamed live to those curious enough to watch.
It is an event which, according to Angermayer, "is optimised for visual consumption of its sports via social media" and has "the potential to evolve into one of the most valuable new sports franchises created in decades".
Whether such confidence is vindicated is uncertain.
Last year a Ukad survey, external found that 66% of parents said they would not watch or let their children watch the Enhanced Games.
But we will discover if the participants can add to the world record Enhanced Games' Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev achieved last year in a trial event, with the help of PEDs and a swimsuit that is banned in official competition. That time has since been surpassed by a swimmer competing clean.
The traditional world of sport is being challenged like rarely before, with a host of disruptors and innovators pushing the boundaries in pursuit of growth.
But little - if anything - has caused as much controversy - nor provoked as many questions - as the Enhanced Games.
Those behind it claim it is here to stay, and could soon expand to more events and other disciplines.
