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Straits Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Anti-doping bodies condemn ‘dangerous' drug-fueled Enhanced Games
The Enhanced Games team attend a press conference to announce the event scheduled for May 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS LOS ANGELES – Anti-doping bodies on May 22 condemned plans for the first edition of the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, an Olympics-style event where athletes will be free to use performance-enhancing drugs. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and bodies across the world have taken aim at the event after organisers revealed the date, venue and format for the competition. The Enhanced Games will be staged in Las Vegas in May 2026, with athletes participating in three sports – athletics, swimming and weightlifting. Athletes will be allowed to use drugs which are banned across international sport such as steroids and human-growth hormones, with winners of each event receiving US$250,000 (S$322,000), and a bonus of US$1 million for anyone who breaks a world record. Aron D'Souza, the Australian entrepreneur who is the founder of the event, says the Games are an exercise in testing the boundaries of human performance. 'The Enhanced Games is renovating the Olympic model for the 21st century,' he said on May 21 as details of the Games were revealed. 'We are here to move humanity forward. The old rules didn't just hold back athletes, they held back humanity. 'We are not just organising competition, we are in the business of unlocking human potential. We are the vanguard of super-humanity.' The Games will take place from May 21-24 at the Resorts World hotel in Las Vegas. Swimming will hold 100m and 50m freestyle events, along with 100m and 50m butterfly. Athletics events include the 100m and 100m and 110m hurdles. Weightlifters will compete in the snatch and clean & jerk disciplines. Wada, the global anti-doping watchdog, condemned plans for the event as 'dangerous', voicing concern it could lead athletes around the world to dabble in illicit substances with potentially deadly consequences. 'Wada condemns the Enhanced Games as a dangerous and irresponsible concept,' the agency said in a statement. 'The health and well-being of athletes is Wada's No. 1 priority. Clearly this event would jeopardise that as it seeks to promote the use of powerful substances and methods by athletes for the purposes of entertainment and marketing. 'There have been many examples of athletes suffering serious long-term side-effects from their use of prohibited substances and methods. Some have died.' Travis Tygart, the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), said the event was a 'dangerous clown show that puts profit over principle'. Australia's anti-doping body, Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), also condemned the risks posed to athletes participating in the Enhanced Games. 'We work to ensure that sport is safe and fair to all,' SIA chief executive Sarah Benson said in a statement. 'The Enhanced Games is promoting the complete opposite and poses a significant risk to athlete health and safety.' D'Souza, however, has pushed back on those criticisms, insisting that the competition would be conducted 'safely'. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
World Aquatics bans Enhanced Games athletes from its competitions
World Aquatics has banned athletes who participate in or show support for the controversial Enhanced Games from competing in its competitions. The Enhanced Games is a new multi-sport competition which allows its athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs, claiming that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) only serves to limit their sporting achievement. The inaugural Enhanced Games is planned to take place in Las Vegas in May 2026. The idea has been widely denounced by the sporting community, and World Aquatics has now taking action by introducing a new bylaw that will prevent any athlete or official involved in the Enhanced Games from competing or holding posisions in the sport. The move comes after a Greek swimmer 'broke' the world record. With the help of the controversial programme, Kristian Gkolomeev swam the men's 50m freestyle in 20.89 seconds to shave 0.02 seconds off the long-standing record set by Brazil's Cesar Cielo in 2009. Gkolomeev, who has competed at four Olympics and came fifth in the event at the Paris Games last year with a time of 21.59 seconds, said he had gained 'an extra 10 pounds of muscle' before the attempt. Enhanced Games had declined to disclose which performance enhancements the 31-year-old used. 'Individuals who support, endorse, or participate in sporting events that embrace the use of scientific advancements or other practices ... will not be eligible to hold positions with World Aquatics or to participate in any World Aquatics competitions, events, or other activities,' World Aquatics said. The practices can include either prohibited substances or prohibited methods. 'This ineligibility would apply to roles such as athlete, coach, team official, administrator, medical support staff, or government representative,' the governing body added. The Enhanced Games operate under the principle that banning performance-enhancing drugs in major competitions does not protect athletes but rather stifles their performance, and called on athletes to join the competition. The Wada had condemned the Enhanced Games as 'dangerous and irresponsible', while Olympic 50 metres freestyle champion Cam McEvoy said Gkolomeev's time was 'irrelevant' to the sport. 'Those who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events,' World Aquatics president Husain Al Musallam said. 'This new bylaw ensures that we can continue to protect the integrity of our competitions, the health and safety of our athletes, and the credibility of the global aquatics community.' The Enhanced Games has set its inaugural competition for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda. Its president and founder, lawyer Aron D'Souza, responded in a statement by suggesting it would support its athletes should they make a legal challenge to compete in World Athletics competitions. 'At the Enhanced Games, athletes have what traditional federations never gave them: choice, fairness, and real money,' he said. 'We offer a medically supervised, safety-focused, science-driven arena - where performance is rewarded, not policed by outdated ideology.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
When lightning bolts collide, do they unleash powerful gamma-ray flashes?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The most powerful explosions in the known universe come from what are known as gamma-ray bursts — though they may not sound particularly exciting, scientists usually speak about these incredible blasts of electromagnetic radiation in the same breath as giant collapsing stars and black holes. We've catalogued quite a few of these events since the 1960s, and even used them to help us understand more about galaxy superclusters, but one particular kind of gamma-ray burst has remained somewhat of a mystery. It's called a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), and it erupts inside thunderstorms on Earth hundreds of feet above our heads. Yuuki Wada, a professor at Osaka University in Japan, has been studying TGFs for years. He's the lead author on a new study that examines the mysterious relationship between TGFs and lightning bolts — and, according to this study, scientists have observed a TGF synchronized with a lightning discharge that arose from a collision of leaders, which guide lighting flow, coming from opposite directions. "TGFs are one of the most energetic natural phenomena in the atmosphere," Wada told Wada's work focuses on high-energy phenomena in lightning flashes and thunderclouds. To gather data about lightning for study, the team traveled two hours north of Osaka to the seaside city of Kanazawa, located in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Northern coast of Honshu, Japan's main island. "We prepared an observation network around television transmission towers in Kanazawa," Wada said. The researchers used a "state-of-the-art multi-sensor setup "that could detect optical, radio-frequency and high-energy radiation. The multi-sensor observations they performed were a world first, senior author Harufumi Tsuchiya said in a statement, and that the combination of sensors helped them learn more about the mechanism for TGFs. However, conducting the research for the study was challenging — and Wada said it required a bit of luck — as the study relied on being able to observe lightning bolts in action. "Lightning is hard to predict now," Wada said. "So, there is a risk of performing intensive observations because detection ranges are limited." "There was a risk that we would detect nothing," Wada added. "Fortunately, we detected a TGF with the full network." Scientists know thunderstorms emit very short TGFs, as well as longer gamma-ray flashes, which can last from minutes to hours. But thunderstorms still hold their share of mysteries. The strong currents of air in thunderstorms can cause air and water to shoot up and down very quickly. When this happens, crystals of ice begin to collide inside the air currents, causing them to shed electrons and generate a lightning-producing electric field. While scientists think that, under specific conditions, TGFs arise from discharges of lightning during thunderstorms, they still don't understand the exact relationship between the two. "TGFs have been mostly detected by satellites, and a detail of how lightning produces gamma rays remains a mystery," Wada said. "Our ground-based observation gives us a clue to understand TGFs." Using the sensors on the transmission towers, the researchers caught a snapshot of lightning discharges along two paths. One path came from the thundercloud and led down to a transmission tower. The other path ascended in the opposite direction. The researchers observed the TGF right before the two discharge paths converged and created a highly concentrated electric field that the researchers say accelerated the electrons shooting through the air to near light speed. One second contains one million microseconds. The team recorded the first photon of the TGF just 31 microseconds before the paths met. The full burst lasted 20 microseconds after the paths formed a lightning strike. Related Stories: — Lightning on alien worlds may fail to spark life, simulations suggest — The most powerful explosions in the universe could reveal where gold comes from — New research on 'Death Star' that looks like a cosmic pinwheel reduces gamma-ray burst threat to Earth This new study follows previous work delving into TGFs from a number of scientific organizations, including NASA and European Space Agency (ESA). In August 2023, NASA pilots flew into thunderstorms aboard a high-altitude science aircraft to gather data on TGFs. In May 2019, ESA created the first-ever photo of a TGF, which arose from a thunderstorm over the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. To study the TGFs, they used a special observatory aboard the International Space Station. The work to understand TGFs is far from finished. "The relation between lightning and TGF is not clear," Wada says. "That is why we are continuing this study." "We are targeting winter thunderstorms in Japan," he added. "Because they have unusual features compared to other thunderstorms, such as lower cloud bases, we expect more mysteries will be resolved by observations in Japan." The study was published on May 21 in the journal Science Advances.
Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Jannik Sinner picks up where he left off as Carlos Alcaraz's main rival at French Open
Jannik Sinner lost to main rival Carlos Alcaraz in the Italian Open final and is aiming to beat the Spaniard in the French Open. PHOTO: REUTERS Jannik Sinner picks up where he left off as Carlos Alcaraz's main rival at French Open PARIS – Jannik Sinner's dazzling winning streak ground to a halt ahead of the French Open, but the world No. 1's top-notch return from a three-month doping ban suggests he will be the main challenger to Carlos Alcaraz in Paris. The 23-year-old had won 26 straight matches before losing 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 to Alcaraz in the Italian Open final last weekend. The defeat also ended a streak of 94 consecutive matches in which he had won at least one set – a run dating back to 2023 when he was beaten by Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals. Sinner agreed a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) in February and began an immediate three-month suspension after authorities accepted that the anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system via massages from his physiotherapist. The three-time Grand Slam champion had not played since winning the Australian Open in January and he viewed the Italian Open as a chance to rebuild his momentum ahead of Roland Garros, which starts May 25. Despite failing to get his hands on the trophy, the Italian left Rome with encouraging signs. He battled through foot pain, managing tight wins over Francisco Cerundolo and Tommy Paul, and showed glimpses of the aggressive baseline game and superb returning that have lifted him to the top of the rankings. 'It was a great week for me in many ways,' Sinner said in Rome. 'I am closer than expected to my best tennis after a little time away, and I've found good sensations on clay.' Alcaraz's victory in Rome gave the Spaniard two elite clay titles this spring following his triumph in Monte Carlo, and the rivalry between the young guns has become the most compelling in men's tennis. Alcaraz leads their head-to-head meetings 7-4 and it would be no surprise if the pair were battling in the Paris final. Sinner's improved physical conditioning has been one of the key factors in his rise, though the lingering foot blister he battled in Rome raised questions about his durability over a gruelling best-of-five format. Yet the Italian remains optimistic. 'Surely I will beat you in Paris,' he joked to Alcaraz during the trophy ceremony in Rome, setting the stage for another potential showdown on Court Philippe-Chatrier. It would not be easy, however. Alcaraz's fourth straight win over Sinner saw the 22-year-old join Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios as the only men to have captured all three clay-court ATP Masters 1000 titles – Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome. 'Winning tournaments and lifting trophies give you a lot of confidence... just to know you're on the right path and playing great tennis. I'm excited about what's to come for me,' he said after his Rome success. 'It means that I'm doing the right things and I'm going to keep doing the right things coming to Paris.' While Alcaraz has a long way to go to match the consistency of the now-retired Nadal on clay, he possesses all the weapons to be just as ruthless, while his improved mental strength has helped him bear the weight of expectation. The pressure to unseat Sinner at the top of the world rankings during the Italian's three-month ban seemed to unnerve Alcaraz and he crashed to defeats at Indian Wells and Miami. 'Something that I realised that I had to do is not think about anything else but enjoying,' Alcaraz said, hinting that he is much stronger mentally now. 'I'm not thinking about the world rankings anymore. I just keep going, doing the things that I enjoy, that make me happy. It's stepping on the court, showing good tennis, that's it. 'If I win, great. If I don't, I'll learn and keep going.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
World-First Study Reveals How Lightning Sparks Gamma-Ray Flashes
The very moment two electrical currents slam together to form a lightning bolt has been captured, revealing for the first time the role this process plays in generating powerful gamma rays right here on Earth. The observation confirms the hypothesis that the terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs, associated with lightning are the result of a powerful electrical field accelerating electrons to nearly the speed of light. In observations conducted in Kanazawa City in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, a team of researchers led by physicist Yuuki Wada of the University of Osaka used a cutting-edge, multi-sensor setup to capture colliding lightning in slow motion across multiple wavelengths. "The ability to study extreme processes such as TGFs originating in lightning allows us to better understand the high-energy processes occurring in Earth's atmosphere," Wada explains. Although cloud-to-ground lightning formation is fast, it's not instantaneous, and requires a path to be cleared by a lightning leader. Air is naturally not very conductive, but the buildup of charge in the atmosphere as a result of storm activity can generate an ionized channel of air along which electric currents can flow. This is a lightning leader, and they can emerge downwards from the clouds, or upwards from the ground. TGFs are thought to be the result of the acceleration of electrons to near-light speeds in strong electric fields generated by thunderstorms. These cascades are known as relativistic runaway electron avalanches, and they're widely accepted as the explanation for TGFs. When the electrons decelerate suddenly, deflected by collisions with atomic nuclei in the atmosphere, the loss of energy manifests as gamma rays – a form of deceleration radiation known as bremsstrahlung radiation. The researchers set up a ground-based apparatus to monitor lightning across radio, optical, and high-energy wavelengths, able to capture details on microsecond timescales. Fascinatingly, their results showed that TGFs and lightning are not simultaneous; rather, the TGF occurs before the lightning bolt. But we're talking about absolutely minuscule increments of time; to our eyes, it would absolutely seem simultaneous. Only with state-of-the-art equipment can we see the reality. The team observed two lightning leaders, one negatively charged and streaking down from a thundercloud to a ground-based television broadcast tower, the other positively charged and snaking upwards from the tower. Just before the two oppositely charged leaders met, a highly concentrated electric field emerged between them, in which electrons were accelerated to relativistic speeds. The first gamma-ray photon was detected just 31 microseconds – 31 millionths of a second – before the leaders collided. The full TGF burst lasted until 20 microseconds after the leaders met to form the lightning strike. This is the first time scientists have observed and recorded this process, offering new and highly detailed insight into how lightning storms can produce enough energy to create gamma radiation – the most energetic form of light in the electromagnetic spectrum. "The multi-sensor observations performed here are a world-first," says physicist Harufumi Tsuchiya of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. "Although some mysteries remain, this technique has brought us closer to understanding the mechanism of these fascinating radiation bursts." The research has been published in Science Advances. The Universe Is 'Suspiciously' Like a Computer Simulation, Physicist Says Seismic Waves From Intense Storms Can Ripple Through Earth's Core New Theory Suggests Dark Matter Is Frozen Relics of Light-Speed Particles
