The Olympic buzz is still fresh in the air now that we’re truly in the swing of the 2024 games, and there could be another event around the corner to top the excitement soon.
The Olympics are highly regulated games, which sees the total banning of performance enhancing drugs.
Not only are drugs regulated, but so is testosterone, and other categories to ensure that athletes are playing on a level playing field.
But a new type of event which hopes to disrupt the Olympics is scrapping those rules.
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Instead, it promotes the use of drugs and dubs itself the Enhanced Games.
What are the Enhanced Games?
The Enhanced Games is similar to the Olympics, where swimmers, racers, tennis player and so on compete to win gold.
However, there will be a lot fewer categories and performance enhancing drugs as well as biohacking is promoted.
It’s got the backing of mega-rich investors who want to reimagine sports and bring in technology to the mix.
Aron D’Souza is the man behind the Enhanced Games and he stated: “It promises to be one of the most compelling television events of all time.”
The investor is based in London and believes the games will be the next best thing on TV.
How did the idea begin?
It all came about when D’Souza’s frustration at the International Olympic Committee spurred him on to create something different.
Dubbing the IOC as greedy as well as not paying their athletes fairly, he decided he’d create games that saw his athletes paid a substantial sum.
Including a $1m payout to former world-leading champion swimmer James Magnussen if he breaks the world record.
He also doesn’t believe that viewers care about watching a ‘natural’ person win records and that they want to see the fastest person possible.
With Ridley Scott’s production company, RSA, also signed up to make a 10-part series about the first Enhanced Games, he’s also managed to score support from uber-rich Peter Thiel and Christian Angermayer as his investors.
How has it been received?
There has certainly been backlash surrounding the idea, especially due to the risks involved in doping.
Magnussen explained to The Guardian that the whole idea of being against enhanced drugs is ‘fearmongering.’
He said: “I’m not worried.
“That’s fearmongering. It’ll all be prescribed by doctors.”
He shared that he will be ‘super stringent, methodical, retesting my biomarkers from start to finish to make sure there are no ill-effects, changing things if anything is reacting poorly with my health, organs, fertility.’
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said: "No one within athletics takes the Enhanced Games seriously."
The IOC stated: "If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it. ... This is completely at odds with the idea and values of the Olympic Games."
However, the games aren’t completely without rules. It has four to adhere to.
What are the four rules of the Enhanced Games?
Angermayer said: “People think we have no rules.
“We have three rules.”
He said the first is that only FDA-approved drugs are allowed.
The second is that all athletes need to be monitored by a doctor.
The third is that everyone needs to have a full blood tests and medical screening before competing.
Angermayer explained that their rules ‘makes us the safest sport in the world.’
Now, there’s a little-known fourth rule.
It’s that all athletes must wear wearables constantly after they’ve qualified, and until the games are over.
Angermayer said this is because it involves data collection and an enhanced viewing experience.
He said: “Think about the one guy who’s winning. We zoom in to his eye. In the moment, we see all his vital stats go up, and you hear his heart rate on TV.
“It’s going to be one of the biggest media spectacles in the world.”
Britt Jones