What are the Enhanced Games?

It's an event where athletes are permitted to take pharmaceuticals ordinarily banned in sports. Substances must only be approved by the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a much lower bar than traditional sporting anti-doping organizations would employ. 

Launched in 2023, organizers promised thousands of athletes competing in five sports. After aborted attempts to start it earlier, and some "exhibition events" featuring what the Enhanced Games call a swimming world record, the first Enhanced Games take place on May 24 in Las Vegas. In the end, it will feature 42 athletes across four sports — swimming, sprinting weightlifting and "strongman."

There is plenty of money behind it, with each event offering a total purse of $500,000 (€430,000), with $250,000 awarded to first place. There are also appearance fees and record-breaking bonuses, with $1 million for world records broken in the 100m sprint and swimming's 50m freestyle. A purpose-built stadium has a capacity of 2,500 for the event.

Why are the Enhanced Games controversial?

A spokesperson for the Games told DW their aims are to "unlock their [athletes'] best performances 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 moot and the pursuit of them under such circumstances is lethally dangerous.

"It's not a sporting event, it's a show, it's a circus," Michael Cepic, chairman of the Central European Anti-Doping Organization, told DW. Cepic said the notion that the Games prioritize athlete safety is nonsensical.

"There's just one simple thing everybody can understand. Pharmaceutical products are developed for people with diseases and sickness. If you use them when you have no such issues, it can't be good for your body."

The Games' spokesperson added that their results are published on a US government site for peer review, but said the public will not know the intake of each athlete. "We cannot publish individual protocols as this would violate personal healthcare information. However, we will be providing an aggregate total of substances used across all athletes later this week," he said on Tuesday.

What are the risks for Enhanced Games athletes?

While it's not mandatory to take anything and there seem to be a handful of athletes who aren't planning to do so, Cepic supposes that most will.

Regardless of which products are being tailored to which sport, he said, the danger of death and damage is very real. Athletes have been in a training camp under medical supervision in the United Arab Emirates for some time, with drug programs tailored in order for them to peak this weekend.

"I think as a society we have to ask ourselves what the development has been in the last 2,000 years. In the Roman Empire, you also had exceptional fighters fighting each other until one dropped dead," he said. "Now, people are endangering their own health just to deliver a big show for the entertainment of the audience and for the money.

"The difference maybe in the Roman Empire was that people died immediately. Here they may be doing all this stuff at 30, then will die at 43 or 47 and nobody cares."

Cepic also expects this first event to only drive further negative health impacts in the following years.

"Let's say you are a 50-meter swimmer not on substances, and to beat the world record, you need one tablet of a given substance per day. You take it and beat the world record, fine.

"If you are the next person who wants to beat that record, well, you have to take two tablets per day. And so on and so on and so on. Sooner or later, these bodies will not be able to take it anymore."

Gains worth the risk for some athletes

For some athletes, the financial gains are worth the risks, if they see any.

"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 the sport never gave me the financial stability I needed to build a future for myself."

It is a perspective that has been shared by several athletes who have explained their position. Others, like Colombian swimmer Isabella Arcila, feel they are redressing the balance.

"Too often, we applaud false heroes who shamelessly stand on podiums to receive medals, knowing they are cheating [doping]," she told DW, adding that her drug regime has seen her gain significant strength and reduce her times in the pool.

But Arcila does know there is a cost. "Fertility was one of my biggest concerns. They were honest with me: 'Look, Isa, the truth is we're going to use very low doses that are far from posing a real danger to you. But the possibility exists.'"

Will World Records be broken at the Enhanced Games?

It seems certain that, by the standards of the Enhanced Games, they will. Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev swam a time of 20.89 seconds in the 50m freestyle at an Enhanced Games exhibition event in 2025, beating the official world record. But the world has only the Enhanced Games' word to take for this, with every global and national sporting body rejecting the legitimacy of the Games.

"Our timing system is run by PrimeTime Timing, which does numerous international events. Our track was built by Mondo, who does Olympic venues, and Myrtha Pools built our pool, who also has built international event pools. This is a proper, verifiable results event," the Games spokesman added.

Given that the financial incentive is biggest for records being toppled, there will almost certainly be reports of world records emerging from Las Vegas this weekend.

"If those athletes are able to break records, this is a wonderful by-product of this research as it demonstrates we can optimize human performance safely, allowing science and sport to coexist safely," the spokesman continued.   

Who is funding the Enhanced Games, and why?

The 2023 launch was led by Aron 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 Peter Thiel, a US-German who is co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, whose AI technology is used extensively in wars around the globe.

D'Souza is now heading "Objection," which he describes as an AI trial for truth in media and involves his AI deciding on the veracity of media stories at the behest of individuals or organizations. Thiel has been in the news himself plenty recently, with Palantir posting 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 headline act this weekend, the more lucrative aim for investors is to profit from selling pharmaceuticals on its website, which represents the broader Enhanced business. The featured athletes do not even have their profiles on the website. Product pages for peptides, testosterone and fat loss products have much more detail.

With current US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pushing to loosen regulation on peptides, Enhanced wants to be front of the queue in the growing anti-aging and "looksmaxxing" trends, according to an announcement it 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 athletic and consumer contexts. By positioning itself as the premium brand in the performance medicine category, Enhanced aims to establish market leadership in this emerging sector."

Edited by: Jonathan Harding

This story was originally published on May 20 before being updated on May 22 to add comments from Isabella Arcila.