The Enhanced Games: An experiment

Article by Elisabeth Polivka 9b (18.06.2026)

Performance Enhancing drugs (PED’S) have been banned from the Olympics since 1967. Doping in general is banned from most major sport events to guarantee fairness and safety. Only recently Paul Pogba received a four-year suspension for his doping use, showing how the use of such drugs was not tolerated by the sports community until now.  

These ideals have been challenged by the newly emerging Enhanced Games, which openly encourage the use of certain substances to improve the performance of the participating athletes. By supervising the doping they claim to have secured the safety of the users. While its founders claim that these games pave the way for athletic and scientific accomplishment, critics see them as an unethical and dangerous experiment. The World Anti Doping Agency describes it as a “dangerous and irresponsible concept.”

The idea behind the sports competition stemmed from a movement in Silicon Valley that believed that human limitations can be resolved by technology and science. These “transhumanists” argue that technology could be used to make us stronger, faster and healthier. Aron D’Souza, the Australian founder of the games, believes, "The Enhanced Games is renovating the Olympic model for the 21st century. In the era of accelerating technological and scientific change, the world needs a sporting event that embraces the future, particularly advances in medical science." He also argues that the medically supervised doping is safer than the secret illegal doping that is being practiced in sports despite the ban.  "Let's remember in 1896… being a professional athlete was cheating. It was doping… That took nearly 100 years to go away." This is another argument made by D’Souza to depict the Anti-Doping rules as outdated. Aron D’Souza and Christian Angermayer officially launched their project in 2023. They repeatedly argued that sporting organisations should not decide what substances athletes were allowed to consume but rather they should be able to decide what happens to their own bodies. They also plan to use research gained during the games to make medical advances. 

Once the project was set into motion many powerful investors supported the idea. Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors, as well as the company 1789 Capital, who have significant ties with Donald Trump Jr. have invested in the games. Additionally the project is backed by multiple cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and technology investors. For this prominent list of investors the games do not merely represent a sporting event but the first step towards technological innovation and human enhancement. 

This connection between technology investors and the Enhanced Games has raised many questions. Some critics argue that the Games are primarily a business venture designed to attract media attention and investment opportunities in the growing biotechnology industry. Others believe that the Games represent an ideological challenge to traditional institutions, including the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Not only the people behind the event but also actual drugs have caused backlash as each can have significant health damages.  One of the most well known PED’s are anabolic steroids, which are a synthetic version of testosterone. They let users build muscle mass and strength a lot quicker than they would naturally, by promoting protein synthesis in the body. Athletes can also train harder and more often as steroids reduce recovery time. This makes them very effective in weightlifting, shot put, discus, javelin, and sprinting, as they grant the user explosive power and strength. However long term use can have serious health consequences. Liver damage, heart disease, high blood pressure, infertility, depression, and hormonal damage are among the side effects.

While Anabolic steroids are similar to testosterone, some athletes also inject testosterone, take gels or wear patches in order to improve their performance. The hormone increases muscle size, strength, and recovery. Testosterone is effective in nearly every sport but is specifically advantageous in rugby, sprinting, American football, combat sports, any throwing event, and any other sport where strength and explosive power are important. Similarly to steroids the hormone reduces recovery time allowing athletes to practice more intensely and more frequently. As well as any other PED testosterone has its side-effects such as, cardiovascular problems, infertility, and disruption of the body’s natural hormone production. As it is a hormone it can also be responsible for mood swings and aggression. 

For long distance sports such as running, cycling, rowing, and swimming, the more oxygen is delivered the better. This is exactly what EPO or Erythropoietin does. By stimulating the production of red blood cells, these cells carry a greater amount of oxygen to the muscles which improves endurance and decreases fatigue. The drug became infamous in the 1990s and early 2000s, as a number of cycling scandals hit the news, as athletes were using the drug to improve their performance on the bike. Increasing the number of red blood cells does not only increase the amount of oxygen carried but it can also dangerously thicken the blood. This raises the risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks and even sudden death, an example being Johannes Draaijer, a cyclist whose death in 1990 was linked to EPO. 

In contrast to anabolic steroids Human Growth Hormone (HGH) does not increase strength dramatically, but it allows athletes to recover from intense training programs and maintain them. The drug plays an important role in growth and cell repair. HGH can promote muscle growth, increase bone density, and accelerate recovery from injuries. Because of this, many athletes from different disciplines use the hormone to increase performance, such as sprinters and swimmers. Nevertheless, like the previous PEDs, long term use can lead to severe health problems such as diabetes, joint pain, abnormal enlargement of organs, and a condition known as acromegaly, in which bones in the hands, feet, and face continue to grow.

Rather than having an effect on strength or power, Stimulants increase alertness, concentration, reaction time, and confidence. Amphetamines, Ephedrine and certain medications are used to treat attention deficit disorders. These drugs stimulate the central nervous system producing their effects. Stimulants can be useful in a variety of sports such as tennis, football, motorsport, and combat sports. However in the enhanced games they are useful in swimming, granting the athlete a fast reaction time, reducing fatigue and granting focus. The decreased reaction time also makes it very useful for track events and the drugs also help push through fatigue during weightlifting. Heart failure, irregular heartbeats, addiction, insomnia, and anxiety are all risks users of stimulants face.

Different sports therefore favour different forms of enhancement depending on the physical demands of the discipline. While endurance athletes may benefit most from EPO, power athletes are more likely to use testosterone or anabolic steroids, and competitors in skill-based sports may seek advantages through stimulants. This demonstrates that the issue of doping is highly complex and that no single substance provides an advantage in every sport.

Surprisingly to some the great sporting event has fallen short in multiple disciplines. It was expected that through the use of doping already elite athletes like James Magnussen, a retired Australian swimmer, would be capable of breaking existing world records. Magnussen, who had won three Olympic medals, fell short. He was not the only one as Dylan Cooper also failed to break the world record in clean and jerk, a weightlifting discipline. The hundred meter sprint was completed in 11.25 seconds by Tristan Evelyn, which is 0.76 seconds short of the world record run by Florence Griffith-Joyner although there is significant debate about her record as well. 

One record however was broken by the Greek four-time Olympic swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev. In early 2025, Gkolomeev swam the 50-metre freestyle in 20.89 seconds, becoming the first person to break the 21-second barrier under the conditions of the Enhanced Games. Although the swim was celebrated by supporters of the competition, it was not recognised as an official world record because it was achieved outside the rules of World Aquatics.

Another reason why the performance became controversial was the equipment used during the swim. Gkolomeev wore a full-body polyurethane suit similar to the so-called "super suits" that caused enormous controversy in swimming in 2008 and 2009. These suits improved buoyancy, reduced water resistance, and helped swimmers maintain a better body position in the water. So many records were broken during the "super suit era" that the suits were eventually banned by World Aquatics. The previous official world record in the men's 50-metre freestyle was set by César Cielo of Brazil in 2009 with a time of 20.91 seconds. Gkolomeev himself says about his accomplishment, “I feel kind of like a superhuman.” 

Specifically the 100m men's sprint gained a lot of anticipation as runner Fred Kerley announced he would break Usain Bolt's famous world record in the enhanced conditions. This display of confidence was met with a lot of criticism. In regards to the games Dr. Joyner, an expert at the Mayo Clinic said “It’s a little bit unfortunate that it’s a distraction from the greatest ever performers we have out there.” Other critics also stated that even if Kerley broke Bolt’s record it would be meaningless as it would not represent the true extent of human ability but merely the capability of a drug. Finally after a short delay and two false starts the sprinter won in 9.97 seconds which does not beat Usain Bolt’s memorable world record of 9.58 seconds. 

The Enhanced Games have received enormous backlash from athletes, medical experts, and sports organisations around the world. The International Olympic Committee has condemned the event, calling it irresponsible and dangerous. The World Anti-Doping Agency has argued that the Games send a harmful message to young athletes by suggesting that drug use is necessary for success. Many former Olympians have also criticised the project, warning that it could create pressure for athletes to use substances against their own wishes in order to remain competitive. The strongest criticism, however, concerns the medical risks associated with performance-enhancing drugs.

A powerful example of doping harms is provided by history. The German Democratic Republic more commonly known as the DDR, implemented a state-sponsored doping programme to ensure the country's success. Thousands of athletes, many still teenagers, were pumped with anabolic steroids and testosterone without fully examining the associated risks. While the program was successful in producing multiple Olympic champions, it was also successful in producing significant health issues for participating athletes. They suffered liver damage, heart disease, infertility, hormonal disorders, depression, and an increased risk of certain cancers. Some women experienced permanent changes, including reproductive problems as they were consuming testosterone or anabolic steroids both of which contain the male sex hormone.  This catastrophic and careless use of doping represents the danger and long term consequences of performance enhancing drugs. 

From an ethical perspective, the enhancement games undermine the fundamental principles of fairness in sports, as it gives athletes an advantage over others they did not work for. As normal athletes train relentlessly to achieve their physical goals others may simply take a few drugs. Of course it is not as simple as this but  doping is the basic representation of cheating as it goes outside the rules of sports to achieve an unfair advantage over others. Pro dopers would say that doping represents fairness in a way, as some people are genetically gifted to have an advantage in specific sports, increasing their advantage over others. Doping therefore levels the playing field allowing other athletes to reach the level of talented players. However there is a fundamental difference between someone like Michael Phelps being “built” for swimming and someone like Gkolomeev wearing a banned suit as well as using PEDs. Some people naturally possess talents  in specific sports, and doping is not the recreation of a talent but the alteration of the human body to exceed its natural function and potential. 

In conclusion, the Enhanced Games represent one of the most controversial developments in modern sport. They challenge long-established ideas about fairness, human achievement, and the role of science in athletic competition. While the Games have attracted wealthy investors and generated enormous media attention, they have also revived important ethical and medical questions surrounding performance-enhancing drugs. History, particularly the experience of East German athletes, demonstrates the potential dangers of systematic doping. While the games failed to achieve great success they did spark certain long-standing   debates about doping and the potential of the human body. 

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