It is official: the Enanzed Gamesa private sporting event alternative to the Olympics in which athletes will be able to use doping, will be held From 21 to 24 May 2026 At the Las Vegas Resorts World, in Nevada. To announce it in a press conference dedicated on Wednesday was Aron d’Ouzapresident and founder of the initiative. This controversial idea, labeled as “Doping Olympics“, promises transparency, sustainability, safety, generous prize pool and improvement of performance, but has attracted criticism by numerous reference institutions such as the International Olympic Committee (CI) and the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada).
Together with the presentation of the event, the founder has announced a new one world record in the 50 meters freestylebeaten in Las Vegas by the Olympic swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev with a time of 20.89 secondsovercoming the previous primacy of 2009 of César Cielo (20.91 seconds). This performance, obtained with the help of doping substances, has been rewarded with the exorbitant figure of 1 million dollars.
But how much do Enhanced Games really have to do with sport? Not as much as one might think, or at least not entirely. The same founder of the event Aron d’Ouza In fact, he declared in an interview that “we are not in the sport business. This (the Enhanced Games, editor’s note) could radically renovate human civilization ».
What are Enhanced Games, how they work and how much they win
The Enhanced Games They are an initiative designed by the forty -year -old Australian Aron d’Ouza With the aim of clearing the use of doping substances in sports competitions for exceed the performance limits of athletesbeat the current records e overcome the boundaries of human skills. All this-according to the organizers-with supervision and medical supervision, with careful pre-gara tests to guarantee the health of athletes.
The event will see the participants compete in three main disciplines: I swim (50 me 100 m freestyle and butterfly), athletics (100 m sprints and obstacles) e strength sport (tear and momentum). During the competition the use of the so -called will be allowed Ped (Performance-ENHANCING Drugs), drugs that improve performance, currently prohibited by Wada. At the moment the athletes who joined are 4 swimmers, including the Australian James Magnussenwinner of two medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
The event includes a total prize pool of 500,000 dollars to competition, of which 250,000 assigned to the first classified, e 1 million dollars For those who will be able to overcome the current world records. In response to the question on Trans and Incersex athletes, the participants will be divided not in “male” and “female” but according to their chromosomal kit, XX And Xytherefore based on biological sex at birth.
The supporters of the “doped Olympics” are banquets that these games would bring important innovations and advantages. Promoting one transparency on doping Practices hidden by the traditional system would be avoided, the innovation of Medical and screening tests would guarantee the safety of the athletes involved. At the basis of this there would be the Performance Enhancement Protocola system with which doctors control sportsmen and an ethical committee gives the green light to the treatments, to ensure that any “improvement” is Safe, legal and science based.
Always according to the promoters of the initiative, the independent and private nature of these games would favor economic and environmental sustainability with a decentralized model with respect to the Olympics born in Greece in 776 BC Among the advantages there would also be i cheap implications For athletes, with important prize pools, as shown by the million dollars won by the swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev For beating the 50 m freestyle record.
Disputes on the “Olympics of doped athletes”, from the risk to health to the ethics of sport
The realization of sports games with the legalization of doping is not free from criticism from doctors, sportsmen and international committees. First of all there are i risks to the health of athletes: the prolonged and intensive use of doping substances, even if supervised, involves long -term uncertainties and dangers that are not entirely predictable. The medical protocols that will be followed are not yet known, it is not clear how they will be applied and what substances will be taken into consideration.
Among the Ped We find substances that can improve resistance like theerythropoietin (EPO) and the pumping of blood from the heart, agents anabolichormonal supplements such as the testosterone. There are documented cases of athletes who have suffered from serious long -term side effects due to the use of prohibited substances; Some have even deceased.
In particular, the Wada through an official press release defined the EnanzeD Games:
A dangerous and irresponsible concept that jeopardizes the health and well -being of athletes by promising the use of substances for the purpose of entertainment and marketing.
In addition, the agency has launched a clear warning in view of the event: the athletes will be monitored with rigorous anti -doping tests and Participating in Enhanced Games will involve a violation of the world anti -doping codeexposing the athletes to disqualifications and permanent damage to their reputation.
In addition to the concerns expressed by the sports committees, an important criticism emerges in defense of theSports ethicswhat makes sport so followed and loved all over the world. Beat the records thanks to the use of substances that improve performance goes against the essence of sport: the beauty of seeing athletes compete in a loyal and clean way thanks to their talent, training and daily sacrifice.
What could hide behind the Enanzeted Games
The project is financed by prominent names such as PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel, Christian Angermayer of Aperon Investment Group (which invests in psychedelic substances and “human improvement”), Balaji Srinivasan (cryptocurrency investor). In February he also invested in the initiative Donald Trump Jrthe son of the current President of the United States, through the investment fund 1789 Capital which declares the conservative values in line with those of the Trump Administration and the movement Sorceress (Make America Great Again). In this sense, Trump’s profound influence during his second term created the ideal cultural substrate For the realization of this “rebellious” initiative against the sporting establishment and, in some ways, scientific.
Almost all investors have a background that has little to do with sport or medicine: cryptocurrencies, speculative funds, venture capitalists, artificial intelligence and so on. In short, the profound nature of the initiative seems to be that of business rather than purely sporty business.
The names of Aron d’Ouza, Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. could shed light on what could be one of the real objectives of this project beyond the purely sporty question. D’Ouza and Thiel, in fact, are notoriously active supporters of the transhumanisma cultural movement – rather widespread in Silicon Valley – which aims to transcend human limits Thanks to the use of scientific and technological discoveries to improve physical, cognitive and psychological skills. Among the declared dreams of transhumanism there is the fusion between human being and technology To overcome the biological natural limits of aging and even death.
It is no coincidence that Aron d’Ouza himself explicitly declared in an interview:
I will not create the compounds they treat, treat and finally solve aging, but we can create the market conditions in which this happens. We are not in the sport business. This could radically renovate human civilization.
Some observers have speculated that D’Ouza may have exploited the critical issues shown in recent decades by the Olympic competitions – athletes underpaid by the official sports bodies, hidden use of doping, inefficient management of resources in the host cities – to create an event such as the Enhanced Games whose real purpose would not be the sporting competition but be a Attractor of private funds to be used to accelerate research On those substances that one day could realize the transhumanist dream of “eternal life”.
