Las Vegas: The Enhanced Games’ main media officer is clutching an orange tape measure as he ushers roughly 200 journalists from 25 countries around a futuristic $70 million venue built in just four weeks at the base of Resorts World Las Vegas, complete with a swimming pool, running track and weightlifting arena, unlike anything previously seen in sport.
“I can assure you all the track is 100 metres long,” he says.
The track might be of correct specifications, but is this really sport?
The Games have been bombarded with cynicism and scepticism – some warranted, some misguided – ever since former Australian swimmer James Magnussen signed on as the first athlete willing to take performance-enhancing drugs, under strict medical supervision from doctors on different continents, in a bid to discover what the human body is capable of.
The inaugural Enhanced Games, whose organisers insist they are not in direct competition with the Olympics, will be streamed for free on YouTube on Sunday (Monday morning, AEST) from a city synonymous with risk-taking, so much so that poker machines have found their way into grocery stores.
The perception is that these athletes – many of them Olympians – are recklessly pumping their bodies full of illegal substances in pursuit of eye-watering prizemoney of up to $1.4 million for world records.
But are they being exploited in an audacious stunt for profit? And what happens when copycats, without the same medical supervision, inevitably try to push things too far? It is a melting pot of sport, business, technology, drugs and entertainment, all wrapped up in an event generating global interest.
Of the 42 athletes competing, 36 are taking part in a clinical trial, in which substances such as testosterone (91 per cent of competitors), human growth hormone (79 per cent), stimulants such as Adderall (62 per cent) and EPO (41 per cent) are being used by competitors. These substances are banned in traditional sports to ensure an even playing field, but not here. All are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a federal agency responsible for protecting public health.
However, for all the medical supervision, testing and precautions, organisers have been eager to stress there remains an inherent long-term risk that cannot be swept under the rug. Some female swimmers, such as Colombian swimmer Isabella Arcila, have had their eggs frozen, paid for by Enhanced.
“Fertility was a big issue for me,” Arcila said. “I want to be a mum. I expressed this to the company. They said my doses are very small. I feel comfortable now.
“Four months ago, I was in the worst shape of my life, sitting in a nine to five sports marketing job, and now I truly believe I’m going to swim the fastest I ever have.
“I do feel superhuman in my own way.”
Christian Angermayer, the German biotech entrepreneur bankrolling the Enhanced Games, gives off unmistakable billionaire energy as he marches around the precinct. He is adamant that the anti-ageing and supplement arms race is already here and that the Enhanced Games are ethical.
“There is no tough question – I love them all,” he said. “This is not an experiment. I want to say it over and over again, they are FDA-approved drugs.
“It’s an evil twisting [against us]. I’m heavily against when people go online and have some crazy people show them some peptides from China. That is not us. We are scientific, medical, FDA approved with a doctor.
“Alcohol should be made illegal. It’s a pure poison. People say we are a bad example for our children. Go to an airport. You walk children through hard liquor, cigarettes and sugar. That is insane.”
Enhanced Games chief executive Max Martin has effectively taken over as the public face of the event from Australian co-founder Aron D’Souza.
On Saturday, after some comical microphone issues, he faced an hour-long grilling from reporters alongside Dr Guido Pieles, head of the Games’ independent medical commission.
Martin says he is personally taking about six times the dosages of the athletes on his personalised program.
“You can go out have a couple of drinks and have a good night,” he said. “You can also down two bottles of tequila straight and die. It’s not the use of performance-enhancing substances that’s dangerous; it’s the misuse. Transparency is core to our DNA.”
Sifting through the spin requires some work, Martin adamant the event will transform modern sport as we know it. That claim feels fanciful, with the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee and most figures involved in clean sport appalled by the modus operandi of an organisation they believe is using the facade of a sporting event to market substances to the masses.
But it is true that several industries already feature athletes taking such drugs, including bodybuilding and strongman competitions, hugely influential on teenage boys.
Enhanced has paid significant money to bring some of the world’s biggest content creators to Vegas, with a combined online following of 375 million, as part of the 2500-strong crowd expected for the event, which begins at 8.35am on Monday (AEST) with a women’s weightlifting competition. No public tickets went on sale.
No stone has gone unturned in the pursuit of eyeballs, while the event’s logistics have been meticulous, to the point that during the swimmers’ final training session on Saturday, three lifeguards were on duty.
Plants were still being wheeled into plush corporate hospitality areas where cashed-up VIP guests will sip champagne before a performance by The Killers closes out the night.
There are, however, some important caveats. Swimmers will wear high-tech suits banned in Olympic competition, meaning any “world record” time would not be officially ratified.
At the end of the Saturday press conference came a question to Dr Pieles: What happens if something goes wrong? What if an athlete decides, against medical guidance, to take something extra in pursuit of a millisecond advantage and life-changing cash?
“The risk is very rare,” Pieles said. “One in 50,000 sudden cardiac deaths are athletes. Less than 5 per cent of those athletes are cardiac arrests due to drugs.
“But please, I don’t want to brush this risk away. I’m here to make sure we recognise this and we help to minimise this.
“I’m reasonably confident nothing will happen.”
Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.