What are advanced sports?
This is an event where athletes are allowed to take pharmaceuticals that are usually banned in sports. Substances must only be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is much lower than traditional sports anti-doping organizations.
Launching in 2023, organizers promise thousands of athletes competing in five sports. After failed attempts to start it earlier, and a few “exhibition events” at what the Enhanced Games calls swimming world records, the first Enhanced Games will take place on May 24 in Las Vegas. Ultimately, it will include 42 athletes from four sports – swimming, running, weightlifting and “strongman”.
There’s a lot of money behind it, with a total of $500,000 (€430,000) on offer at each event, with a $250,000 prize for first place. There are also fees and record-breaking bonuses, including $1 million for a 100 meter sprint appearance and breaking the world record in swimming’s 50 meter freestyle. A purpose-built stadium for the event has a capacity of 2,500.
Why are advanced sports controversial?
A spokesperson for the games told DW that the aim is to “unlock them”. [athletes’] Best performance under the highest medical and clinical supervision transparently and safely using legal, licensed and approved FDA substances.” But critics argue that any chemically enhanced records are controversial and pursuing them under such circumstances is fatal.
“This is not a sporting event, it’s a show, it’s a circus,” Michael Sepic, president of the Central European Anti-Doping Organization, told DW. Sepik said the notion that sports athletes prioritize safety is nonsensical.
“Just a simple thing that everyone can understand. Pharmaceutical products are developed for people suffering from diseases and illnesses. If you use them when you have no such problems, it may not be good for your body.”
A Games spokesperson said their results are published on a US government site for peer review, but said the public would not know about each athlete’s entry. “We cannot publish individual protocols as this would breach personal health information. However, we will provide the total number of substances used by all athletes this weekend,” he said on Tuesday.
What are the risks for Enhanced Games athletes?
Although it is not mandatory to take anything and a handful of athletes are not planning to do so, Sepik believes the majority will.
Regardless of which products are being designed for which sport, the risk of death and injury is very real, he said. The athletes have been in a training camp under medical supervision in the UAE for some time, with medication programs designed to get them back to their peak this weekend.
He said, “I think as a society we have to ask ourselves what developments have happened over the last 2,000 years. In the Roman Empire, you even had exceptional fighters who fought each other until one died.” “Now, people are risking their health to entertain the audience and put on a big show for money.
“Maybe the difference in the Roman Empire was that people died immediately. Here they would be doing all this at age 30, then die at 43 or 47 and nobody cares.”
Sepik also expects that this first event will have further negative impacts on health in the following years.
“Suppose you are a 50 meter swimmer and do not take any substance, and to break the world record, you need one pill of a given substance per day. You take it and break the world record, okay.
“If you’re the next person who wants to break that record, well, you’re going to have to take two pills per day. And so on and so on and so on. Sooner or later, these bodies won’t be able to take it anymore.”
For some athletes the benefit is worth the risk
For some athletes, the financial benefits are worth the risk, if they perceive any risk.
“Swimming was my life for many years,” Marius Kusch, one of the two German competitors, told press agency dpa.
“I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, but the truth is that sport never gave me the financial stability I needed to build a future for myself.”
It’s a perspective shared by many athletes who have made their positions clear. Others, like Colombian swimmer Isabella Arcilla, think they are striking a balance.
“Too often, we applaud false heroes who shamelessly stand on podiums to receive medals, not knowing that they are cheating [doping],” he told DW, adding that the drug use had boosted his strength and reduced his time in the pool.
But Archila knows there will be a price. “Fertility was one of my biggest concerns. They were honest with me: ‘Look, Isa, the truth is that we’re going to use a very low dose that’s very far from posing a real risk to you. But the possibility exists.'”
Will world records be broken in advanced sports?
It seems certain that, by the standards of advanced games, they will. Greek swimmer Christian Gakolomev broke the official world record in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 20.89 seconds at an Enhanced Games exhibition event in 2025. But the world has only the term Enhanced Games for it, every global and national sports body is rejecting the validity of the games.
A Games spokesperson said, “Our timing system is run by Primetime Timing, which does many international events. Our track was built by Mondo, which works Olympic venues, and our pool was built by Myrtha Pools, which also builds international event pools. This is a fair, verifiable results event.”
Given that the financial incentive to drop records is the greatest, there will almost certainly be news of a world record coming out of Las Vegas this weekend.
The spokesperson added, “If those athletes are able to break records, it is a wonderful by-product of this research because it shows that we can safely optimize human performance, allowing science and sport to co-exist safely.”
Who is funding advanced sports and why?
The 2023 launch was led by Aaron D’Souza. The Australian, who has since been replaced as the face of the organization by German Maximilian Martin, has a long-standing relationship with US-German Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, whose AI technology is used extensively in wars around the world.
D’Souza is now leading “Objection”, which he describes as an AI test for truth in media and involves individuals or organizations making their own AI decisions on the veracity of media stories. Thiel himself has been in the news recently, after Palantir posted a political manifesto on X that was described as “techno-fascism”. Other investors include Donald Trump Jr., the US President’s eldest son.
While the games are the main event this weekend, the more attractive objective for investors is to make profits from selling pharmaceuticals on its website, which represents a broader upscale business. The featured athletes do not even have a profile on the website. There is much more detail in the product pages for peptides, testosterone and fat loss products.
With a push by current U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to loosen regulation on peptides, Enhanced wants to be at the forefront of the growing anti-aging and “luxemaxing” trends, according to a Announcement made in November.
“This model is designed to capture value from the broader cultural shift toward experiential spending and the growing desire for longevity-focused, direct-to-consumer products in both the athletic and consumer contexts. By establishing itself as a premium brand in the performance therapy category, Enhanced aims to establish market leadership in this emerging sector.”
Edited by: Jonathan Harding
This story was originally published May 20 and was updated to add comments May 22 Isabella Arcilla.