Enhanced Games world record claim: What does it mean? – DW – 05/22/2025

DW

22-05-2025

An event dubbed "Olympics on Drugs" and backed by the Trump family has moved a step closer to reality. The Enhanced Games claim one of its doped athletes has already broken a world record and now has a venue and date.
Whatever its legitimacy, the organizers of the Enhanced Games know how to grab attention. A launch on Wednesday was accompanied by a glossy one-hour film, a sales platform for prescription performance enhancers and the claim of a new 50-meters freestyle world record by Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev.
"He should be retired, but in fact, he's swimming faster than any human being has ever done so. Why? Because he used technology and science to enhance his performance," boasted founder Aron D'Souza.
"Once the world realizes that, I think everyone is going to want it. Every middle-aged guy who once played competitive sport and is now suffering from back pain is going to say, 'What is he on and how do I get it?'"
Gkolomeev, who has failed to reach the podium in his four Olympic performances, will not be credited by any official body for a number of reasons; there is no independent adjudication, he was wearing an inline full-body open water suit that falls outside World Aquatics standards and, most pertinently, there was no doping control. In fact, performance-enhancing drugs are demanded by organizers who also claim Gkolomeev broke another world record in jammers, shorts which are allowed in the Olympics.
Has a world record really been broken?
Not in any meaningful sense. World Aquatics, who govern swimming, have been as dismissive of the Enhanced Games as most of their fellow sporting bodies.
"The Enhanced Games are not a sporting competition built on universal values like honesty, fairness and equity: they are a circus, built on shortcuts," read a statement from swimming's global governing body.
While it's apparent that Gkolomeev was doped, it is not clear what with. The Enhanced Games have not revealed what substances the 31-year-old took, citing personal confidentiality, despite consistently promising transparency.
What is the point of the Enhanced Games?
Much of the promotion has been around two things – money and drugs. At Wednesday's launch, D'Souza revealed that the first event would feature four swimming races, four athletics sprints and a weightlifting competition. Each event winner is to receive $500,000 (€440,000) with a $1 million bonus for world records in the 50-meters freestyle and 100-meter sprint and $250,000 for other world records.
The Trump family, in the shape of Donald Trump Jr. have invested in the Enhanced Games Image: Alex Brandon/AP/picture alliance
Investors including Donald Trump Jr., Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, German tech investor Christian Angermayer and former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan will hope to profit from the organization's "Telehealth Platform" it says will launch in August in a number of US states. The website currently offers "priority access" to a "fully tailored enhancement plan' for a fee of $99. The Enhanced Games say this is all legal with most banned substances in high-level sport available on prescription in the United States. They also insist they will go by the book.
When will the Enhanced Games take place?
While the drug-selling aspect of the Enhanced Games will be operational soon, the actual event will not take place until next May 21-24 in Las Vegas. This will be less than a month before the United States co-hosts the football World Cup and two years before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympics.
Only four athletes, all swimmers, have so far confirmed their participation. They are: Andriy Govorov, the Ukrainian 50-meters butterfly world record holder and bronze medallst at the 2017 World Championships, 21-year-old Bulgarian swimmer Josif Miladinov, a silver medalist at the 2019 European Championships and retired Australian world champion James Magnussen.
What do the critics say about the Enhanced Games?
The worlds of sports and medicine have been near-universal in their condemnation of the concept.
"Thinking that because you do medical checks on the spot is going to give you a good idea of the health risks of abuse of doping substances, again, is medical and scientific nonsense," said World Anti-Doping Agency science director Olivier Rabin.
"It's like the Roman circus, you know, you sacrifice the lives of people purely for entertainment. What's the value of this? I don't think any responsible society should move in that direction."
WADA have consistently announced their opposition to the Enhanced Games Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/J. C. Bott
Speaking to DW earlier this year, Chris Raynor, a sports medicine doctor at Cornwall Community Hospital in Canada, told DW the dangers are dramatic.
"There are always effects associated with these medications. It can lead to cardiac arrhythmias, a heart attack, sudden cardiac death," he explained .
Former US swimmer and Olympic medalist Allison Wagner, who was beaten at major events by many swimmers who were either proven or suspected dopers, said that sport itself is at stake.
"For me and for so many athletes, sport has been about learning and incorporating values such as integrity and fair play, and these Enhanced Games make a mockery of that."
What do the Enhanced Games athletes and organizers say?
D'Souza argues that doping in professional and amateur sport is inherent and his proposal is a safer method that "makes sport a fair, level, transparent field so that innovation can be illustrated in a very public way to support technological progress."
The organizers and athletes invloved in the Enhanced Games insist they are safe, but others disagree Image: Arafat Barbakh/REUTERS
Speaking to DW earlier this year, he added that "individuals should be able to take risks for themselves with free and informed consent."
Magnussen said the Enhanced Games have reinvigorated his passion for the sport but sees them as separate from clean competition.
"I was waking up each day with an enthusiasm to train, to compete. I felt so healthy, so motivated. It's honestly the happiest I've been in seven years," he said.
"As athletes we have a greater risk appetite than the general population and see an event like the Enhanced Games as an opportunity."
Edited by: Chuck Penfold