Online Reporter
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.
Although 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 BBC Sport was not granted access to the hospital when it visited the Enhanced Games training camp in February, 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.
Since its launch, however, the project has been condemned by sports bodies and anti-doping authorities.
Amid the backlash, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Wada called it “immoral” and “a dangerous and irresponsible concept” in a joint statement last year. World Athletics president Lord Coe said anyone taking part was “moronic”. And World Aquatics then became the first governing body to ban anyone involved from its events.
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.
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 percent 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 in Abu Dhabi 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,” wrote 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,” added 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.” —BBC
