Latest news with #performanceenhancement
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Doctors suspicious about rocketing number of British athletes ‘with ADHD'
There has been a sharp rise in athletes in Britain using ADHD drugs while competing, amid fears the medication could be abused to enhance performance. Data obtained by Telegraph Sport shows there has been a more-than threefold increase in just five years in the number of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) granted at national level for athletes diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There has also been a more-than fourfold rise in the number of TUE applications during the same period (2019-24). The data comes from a Freedom of Information request to UK Anti-Doping, made amid concerns that TUEs for ADHD drugs may have become too easy to obtain. Medication such as ritalin has long been linked with so-called 'brain doping', most notoriously by students sitting exams. But studies show ADHD drugs also boost athletic performance and they are banned in competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Concerns of misuse within sport are focused on the adult diagnosis of a disorder that is normally identified in childhood – at an age where there is no prospect of the TUE system being abused – and that does not necessarily require medication to treat. Ukad told Telegraph Sport it was unable to provide a breakdown of how many TUEs for ADHD it had granted to athletes who had first been diagnosed as adults. That raises questions about whether it is adequately monitoring any trends that may warrant further investigation, particularly given the sharp increase in the total number of those using ADHD drugs while competing. The data provided by Ukad showed that the number of TUEs it granted for ADHD rose from 19 in 2019 (from 24 applications) to 63 last year (from 106 applications). Some of those may have been from repeat applications. Football had the largest number of applications granted during that period, which climbed from just two in 2019 to 16 last year. Rugby union, cricket and rugby league were the next most prevalent sports. Telegraph Sport submitted its Freedom Of Information request after one doctor, who has worked in some of those four sports, raised concerns about potential ADHD medication misuse. Responding to the findings, the doctor– who spoke under the condition of anonymity – said: 'You'd have to question sometimes whether these diagnoses are true or whether these are diagnoses which help facilitate somebody having something, a medication, which enhances performance. 'ADHD is what I'd describe as a 'soft' diagnosis. It's a diagnosis which is in the opinion of a so-called expert. And there is no one speciality which is equipped to diagnose somebody with ADHD. 'The huge performance advantage, from a physical and from a mental point of view, of taking ADHD medication would either give your team a boost or individually raise you to a higher level that you might not have been able to reach without it. 'And whilst the majority of people who work in sport are scrupulous, there are some people who are not scrupulous – whether that be doctors, physios or agents involved in the management of players. 'If you've got a player who is struggling performance-wise and you get 10 per cent of their cut, it doesn't take a genius to go, 'Well, it could be that he has ADHD'.' Another doctor, who has worked both for Premier League football clubs and at international level, said TUEs in sport for ADHD had 'gone through the roof' and that it was 'easy' to obtain a diagnosis. In the required medical assessment for the condition, an ADHD specialist such as a psychiatrist would ask a subject about their history of symptoms, particularly if they started in childhood, as well as assessing how work and interpersonal relationships are affected, and their medical history. Yet, suggesting the condition was 'probably' being over-diagnosed when the opposite had occurred historically, the second medic added: 'The problem is, of course, that it's all relatively subjective and, therefore, it's difficult to say to someone, 'I disagree. I don't think you've got ADHD'.' John Brewer, a former Ukad board member and science and medicine expert, said: 'If I was still the science and medicine expert on the Ukad board, as a non-executive director, I would certainly be probing the executive team to try to get us some information or an explanation behind that type of increase in ADHD applications if that had been brought to the board.' He added of ADHD: 'It's a little bit like asthma. Because if you ask me to fail an exercise-induced asthma test, I could do that very easily, even though I don't have asthma. Because I know what to do and it's dead straightforward to do it. 'It doesn't take a lot, dare I say it, to work out what people are looking for when they are conducting subjective assessments, in order to get that prescription.' Suspicion falls on 'rogue doctors' Michele Verroken, a veteran in th e war on drugs in sport who ran anti-doping at UK Sport before Ukad was formed, said any investigation should look for 'rogue doctors' who may be behind multiple applications. 'Anti-doping organisations should be looking at any clusters, any population increases,' she said. 'They should be looking for potential patterns of abuse, because that helps all anti-doping organisations understand if they've got over-emphasis by certain medical people in the way that they're treating and supporting performance training, and whether they're medicalising the whole approach to what's going on.' Dr Oliver Runswick, a senior lecturer in performance psychology at King's College London, has carried out research into the impact of exercise on those with ADHD. He said being physically active was 'an incredibly good symptom-management tool' and suggested athletes actually could be 'better at managing' their symptoms than non-athletes. Dr Runswick, who has also worked in sport, said he would expect those with ADHD 'severe' enough to require a TUE to be struggling with 'day-to-day' living. He added: 'You'd have to be outlining some pretty severe symptoms, which would make it almost impossible for you to be a professional athlete.' The sharp rise of athletes in Britain using ADHD drugs is in stark contrast to the trend in the United States, another country in which diagnosis of developmental disorders in the general population has been on the increase. Data obtained from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) showed a decrease in the number of TUEs it has granted for the condition over the same period (2019-24). One sports organisation that publishes its TUE data for ADHD is Major League Baseball, a move triggered by the performance-enhancing drugs scandal that engulfed it in the early 2000s. This transparency has coincided with a major fall in the number of TUEs granted, which almost halved between 2014 and last year. A Ukad spokesperson said: 'ADHD is a debilitating disorder that can have a profound effect on the way an individual functions, regardless of whether they were diagnosed with the disorder in childhood or as an adult. 'Our primary concern is to ensure that only athletes properly diagnosed with ADHD are granted a therapeutic use exemption. Whilst there is the possibility that athletes could attempt to misuse the TUE system, we have put in place the following measures to safeguard against this risk: Our ADHD TUE policy sets out the type of clinician who we accept ADHD assessments from, and the medical evidence required to support TUE requests, which is in line with UK best-practice guidelines regarding the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. We have highly experienced psychiatrists on our TUE committee who are involved in the review of all ADHD TUE applications submitted to Ukad. The TUE committee also has the option to request a second opinion in instances whereby a diagnosis is ambiguous. 'Whilst the increases observed in the FOI data appear significant, the prevalence of athletes being treated for ADHD with stimulant medication in 2023 was 0.41 per cent of the UK national TUE pool. This is lower than the estimated prevalence of ADHD in adults, which is three to four per cent in the UK. The prevalence rate of 0.11 per cent of UK national TUE pool athletes being treated for ADHD with stimulant medication in 2021 is also lower than the 0.27 per cent of Olympians at the Tokyo Olympic Games being in receipt of a TUE for ADHD. 'Ultimately, the UK TUE prevalence data on ADHD is not out of place with national population and global athlete statistics [in a way that would] suggest that the increase in ADHD TUE approvals in recent years is down to athletes misusing the system.' Ukad also said the proportion of athletes it granted ADHD TUEs was in line with data indicating around 11 per cent of people with the disorder in England received medication for the condition.
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Enhanced Games: $1m cheques, Trump Jr and a threat to the Olympics
Featuring prominently on the slick website of a concept called the Enhanced Games is a particularly eye-catching message from Donald Trump Jr. 'The Enhanced Games represent the future – real competition, real freedom and real records being smashed,' says the quote from the US president's son, which sits beneath a video of the president himself that proclaims: ' The impossible is what we do best.' The message from Trump Jr, whose 1789 Capital firm has made a multi-million-dollar investment, goes on: 'This is about excellence, innovation and American dominance on the world stage – something the Maga movement is all about. The Enhanced Games are going to be huge, and I couldn't be prouder to support this movement that is changing sports forever.' Trump Sr has not himself provided a personal endorsement but, with just over three years until the United States will actually host the Olympic Games, complete with its oath that explicitly commits 'to sport without doping', it is still a fairly extraordinary juxtaposition. The Enhanced Games, if you did not know, is a concept founded on allowing its athletes to use performance-enhancing substances. It is paying $1 million for every 'world record' and, alongside the release of an hour-long documentary following certain athletes on their chemically enhanced journey, has just announced that the inaugural Enhanced Games will be held next May in Las Vegas. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Enhanced Games (@enhanced_games) The documentary largely details the training of the Australian former world swimming champion James Magnussen, complete with footage of him injecting himself. 'The base of it was testosterone and then peptides… we used BPC-157, CJC-1295, ipamorelin and thymosin,' he later explained, speaking as if the audience had a biochemistry PhD. The headline moment, however, was provided elsewhere. Wearing an aerodynamic swimsuit that is also outlawed in regular competition, the Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev was timed breaking the existing 50m freestyle world swimming record. Gkolomeev finished fifth at last year's Olympics Games and the 50m freestyle is one of four swimming disciplines (alongside the 100m freestyle and 50m and 100m butterfly) that will make up the swimming events at the first Enhanced Games next year. There will also be sprint events in athletics as well as weightlifting. News of Gkolomeev's feat provoked a predictably fierce backlash from sport's established governing bodies. 'Like clowns juggling knives, sadly, these athletes will get hurt performing in this circus,' said World Aquatics. 'History has shown us time and time again the grave dangers of doping to human health. This is a sideshow to those who compete honestly, fairly, and respect the true spirit of sport.' Travis Tygart, the influential chief executive of the US Anti-Doping Agency, called it a 'dangerous clown show that puts profit over principle', while Lord Coe, the president of World Athletics, has previously dismissed the concept as 'b-------'. The International Olympic Committee has not publicly commented and, as members gathered in February to elect Kirsty Coventry as the new IOC president, there was apparently no thought of the Enhanced Games. 'I did not hear it mentioned once all week – the mood was very upbeat after the success of Paris,' said one IOC insider. FASTEST SWIMMER IN HISTORY Kristian Gkolomeev breaks the 50m Freestyle World Record with a time of 20.89 seconds, earning a $1,000,000 prize. Breaks Cesar Cielo's 2009 record (20.91). Watch Documentary — Enhanced Games (@enhanced_games) May 22, 2025 The IOC, though, has some very obvious points of vulnerability. There was dismay last summer among many athletes over the handling of an anti-doping investigation that cleared Chinese swimmers to compete. Faith in the authorities' ability to enforce current rules is, to put it politely, limited. And then there is the issue of money and the rewards for Olympic athletes who dedicate their lives to a multi-billion-pound show but are frequently left with no more than memories and huge financial debts for the honour. 'I think the business model that is going right now is very outdated for the athletes,' the swimmer Adam Peaty told me last year. 'We need to encourage the next generation to come through – have a fair compensation; it should be coming from the IOC and trickling back down to the athletes who put on the show.' It is a sentiment widely shared, including among promoters in sports where not paying prize money or even appearance fees to athletes would be utterly unthinkable. 'The day after a medal, no one says: 'Who is going to put food on your table?' You try eating a medal – you'll lose your teeth,' says Barry Hearn, whose Professional Darts Corporation has a £1 million first prize for its next world champion. For those Olympic athletes who already dope, or who believe that doping is so prevalent that they cannot win cleanly, you could imagine some might become drawn to a concept where chemical enhancement is out in the open and the potential financial rewards are huge. The Enhanced Games themselves have been emphasising the involvement of medics in the preparation of their athletes – there is a 14-strong 'independent medical and scientific commission' – even if claims of 'safety' have been strongly disputed elsewhere within the profession. 'We live in a world transformed by science,' said Enhanced Games founder Aron D'Souza. 'But sport has stood still. We are not updating the rulebook – we are rewriting it. And we're doing it safely, ethically, and boldly.' Magnussen has also been emphasising the financial point. 'The most common response I hear from current athletes is, if this all goes ahead the way we believe it will in the first year, then we're very interested to join,' he said. 'Because the opportunity to set yourself up for life just isn't there at the moment. But it's very clear that opportunity is available with the Enhanced Games.' As well as Trump's 1789 Capital firm, other known investors include the billionaire PayPal founder Peter Thiel. The big immediate challenge, though, will surely be finding enough world-class athletes over the next 12 months to stage meaningful competition. The Enhanced Games website includes a form for potential participants to register their interest – and it is striking that the list of signed-up athletes currently numbers just four: Magnussen, Gkolomeev and two more swimmers, Josif Miladinov of Bulgaria and Ukranian Andrii Govorov. Of the four, only Miladinov is below the age of 30. It rather suggests that this particular concept has too many ethical and reputational barriers to seriously impact on conventional sporting structures, certainly in the immediate future. But, as it basks in the afterglow of Paris and the election of a continuity president in Coventry, the IOC would be wise to address some of the very legitimate grievances that still fester.
Malay Mail
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Malay Mail
Enhanced Games to introduce doping-permitted competition, debuting in Las Vegas in 2026
Enhanced Games to launch first edition in 2026 Competition allows use of performance-enhancing substances Organisers tout 50m freestyle that exceeds official world record LAS VEGAS, May 22 — The Enhanced Games have set their inaugural competition for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda for athletes using substances banned in official competition to the consternation of anti-doping bodies. Basking in Las Vegas' neon glow at the launch, founder Aron D'Souza yesterday urged athletes to take a gamble on the novel competition that he believes can transform sports science but critics deride as a freak show. Organisers touted what they believe to be their biggest success story so far: Kristian Gkolomeev, a Greek swimmer who never made the podium in four Olympics but surpassed one of his sport's great achievements under the Enhanced Games programme. Gkolomeev swam two hundredths of a second faster than the 50m freestyle official world record that has stood for more than 15 years, clocking 20.89 in February with an inline full-body open water suit that falls outside World Aquatics standards. 'I'm kind of like the driver in the car, but I need the team behind me,' Gkolomeev, who finished fifth in the event at the Paris Games, said ahead of the Las Vegas event. Enhanced Games have held the 31-year-old up as an example of what can be possible under their regime while declining to disclose which 'performance enhancements' he used, citing medical confidentiality. '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,' said D'Souza. 'Once the world realises 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?'' The Enhanced Games operate under the principle that banning performance-enhancing drugs in major competition does not protect athletes but rather stifles their performance. 'Our project is a lot like Formula One because the research that happens to make Formula One cars drive faster eventually percolates out onto the road,' the Australian entrepreneur told Reuters. 'And in the same way, the science and medicine that is used to make athletes achieve world record performances at increasingly older ages will allow all humans, all of our society to age more healthily and gracefully.' Athlete and swimmer Andriy Govorov speaks to members of the press about joining the 'Enhanced Games' roster during a press conference, in Las Vegas, Nevada May 21, 2025. — Reuters pic 'Roman circus'? Participants could earn prize money totalling up to US$500,000 (RM2.1 million) per event plus bonuses for surpassing a world record mark. For swimming, the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly are on the agenda. Athletics has the 100m sprint along with the 110m and 100m hurdles, while weightlifting will feature the snatch and clean and jerk. The World Anti-Doping Agency staunchly opposes the project, warning athletes that they risk bans and their health. The International Federation of Sports Medicine said the project could lead to exploitation of young athletes. '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.' D'Souza argues that doping in professional and amateur sport is rampant despite efforts to eliminate the use of banned substances, leading to it being done secretly and unsafely. 'Instead, at Enhanced Games, we're reversing that, making it a fair, level, transparent field so that innovation can be illustrated in a very public way to support technological progress,' he said. D'Souza announced last year that he had attracted big-name investors in Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, tech investor Christian Angermayer and former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan. That year he also signed the first Enhanced Games athlete, retired Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen, who agreed to take banned performance-enhancing drugs in an attempt to surpass Cesar Cielo's 50m freestyle record. Andriy Govorov, the Ukrainian 50m butterfly world record holder and world bronze medallist, and 21-year-old Bulgarian swimmer Josif Miladinov, a European silver medallist, joined the Enhanced Games programme last month. Magnussen, who had retired from competition in 2019, told reporters that training with Enhanced Games reignited his passion for the sport and that the response from his fellow athletes had been 'overwhelmingly positive'. 'I was waking up each day with an enthusiasm to train, to compete. I felt so healthy, so motivated,' he said. '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.' The 2026 Enhanced Games are set for Las Vegas from May 21-24. — Reuters
Japan Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Enhanced Games, where athletes can use banned substances, to start in 2026
The Enhanced Games have set the inaugural competition for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda for athletes using substances banned in official competition to the consternation of anti-doping bodies. Basking in Las Vegas' neon glow at the launch, founder Aron D'Souza on Wednesday urged athletes to take a gamble on the novel competition that he believes can transform sports science but that critics deride as a freak show. Organizers touted what they believe to be their biggest success story so far: Kristian Gkolomeev, a Greek swimmer who never made the podium in four Olympics but surpassed one of his sport's great achievements under the Enhanced Games program. Gkolomeev swam two-hundredths of a second faster than the 50-meter freestyle world record that has stood for more than 15 years, clocking 20.89 seconds in February with an inline full-body open water suit that falls outside World Aquatics standards. "I'm kind of like the driver in the car, but I need the team behind me," Gkolomeev, who finished fifth in the event at the Paris Games, said ahead of the Las Vegas event. Organizers have held the 31-year-old up as an example of what can be possible under their regime while declining to disclose which "performance enhancements" he used, citing medical confidentiality. "He should be retired, but in fact, he's swimming faster than any human being has ever done so," D'Souza said. "Why? Because he used technology and science to enhance his performance. "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?'" The Enhanced Games operate under the principle that banning performance-enhancing drugs in major competition does not protect athletes but rather stifles their performance. "Our project is a lot like Formula One because the research that happens to make Formula One cars drive faster eventually percolates out onto the road," the Australian entrepreneur said. "And in the same way, the science and medicine that is used to make athletes achieve world record performances at increasingly older ages will allow all humans, all of our society to age more healthily and gracefully." Participants could earn prize money totaling up to $500,000 per event, plus bonuses, for surpassing a world record mark. For swimming, the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly and 100-meter butterfly are on the agenda. Athletics has the 100-meter sprint along with the 110- and 100-meter hurdles, while weightlifting will feature the snatch and clean and jerk. The World Anti-Doping Agency staunchly opposes the project, warning athletes that they risk bans and their health. The International Federation of Sports Medicine said the project could lead to exploitation of young athletes. "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," World Anti-Doping Agency Science Director Olivier Rabin said. "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." D'Souza argues that doping in professional and amateur sport is rampant despite efforts to eliminate the use of banned substances, leading to it being done secretly and unsafely. "Instead, at Enhanced Games, we're reversing that, making it a fair, level, transparent field so that innovation can be illustrated in a very public way to support technological progress," he said. D'Souza announced last year that he had attracted big-name investors in Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, tech investor Christian Angermayer and former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan. That year he also signed the first Enhanced Games athlete, retired Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen, who agreed to take banned performance-enhancing drugs in an attempt to surpass Cesar Cielo's 50-meter freestyle record. Andriy Govorov, the Ukrainian 50-meter butterfly world record holder and world bronze medalist, and 21-year-old Bulgarian swimmer Josif Miladinov, a European silver medalist, joined the Enhanced Games program last month. Magnussen, who had retired from competition in 2019, told reporters that training with Enhanced Games reignited his passion for the sport and that the response from his fellow athletes had been "overwhelmingly positive". "I was waking up each day with an enthusiasm to train, to compete. I felt so healthy, so motivated," he said. "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." The 2026 Enhanced Games are set for Las Vegas from May 21-24.
Arab News
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Arab News
Is the world of sports ready for the Enhanced Games?
In modern parlance, it is what techies would call a 'disruptor,' to say the least. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport It will take a lot more, however, for sporting fans of earlier generations to get their heads around the concept of the Enhanced Games, which were officially announced on Wednesday and will take place next year in Las Vegas. Saudi Arabia's Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al-Saud, founder and CEO of KBW Ventures and chairman of the Kingdom's Sports For All Federation, is the region's first, and to date only, investor in the tournament that allows athletes to use performance-enhancing substances without being subjected to testing. Prince Khaled — nicknamed the 'Tech Prince' for his investments in startups, among many other fields — is bullish about the potential of the Enhanced Games when asked if the sports world is ready for such a controversial step. 'Look, I like to think of myself as a progressive investor, venture capital typically backs very nascent ideas,' he told Arab News. 'You are always looking for the big idea, the society-changing concept. Then, you attempt to predict and really visualize how and where and when that big idea will prove relevant to the wider world. 'As someone who is pretty involved in sports on both personal and business levels, I think there is a segment of the world who would like to push the limits of human potential,' Prince Khaled said. 'How fast? How far? How long? All questions in sport that someone like me is curious about, and very eager to see. I want to see real-world application, and a competitive approach.' He accepts that this idea, with all the ethical points and counterpoints it evokes, might take a long time to be accepted in mainstream sports. 'Is the world ready? The world wasn't ready for most fresh concepts. At the most basic level people weren't even ready for ride-hailing, now it is considered a must for many all over the world, he said. 'So, whether it is transportation or AI or art or biotechnology or in this case, sport and biohacking, the world is usually not ready for things that have not been done before. That doesn't mean they should never be done. 'Elite athletes who have never been granted the opportunity to experiment with body autonomy and enhancement exploration can now sign up if they so choose,' said Prince Khaled. 'If you want to talk sports in specific, I also think the world wasn't ready for MMA, but it's now one of the biggest crowd draws out there.' The reaction from the sports community at large has, unsurprisingly, been a negative one. In February of last year, a joint statement issued by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency condemning the games was supported by The International Fair Play Committee. 'Well, it is voluntary, and it's like for like. The Games is for those who choose to enroll and compete with enhancements. It is ethical; the ethics rests in equality, safety and transparency. 'There is a disclosure protocol, and everyone knows that everyone else is applying the same types of enhancements and experimenting with biohacking. 'I don't think I have to justify investing in what I see as a form of competitive sport,' he added. 'As long as everyone involved is aware, then it is fair and transparent.' Prince Khaled is known to be the Middle East North Africa face of venture capital, with investments across artificial intelligence, biotechnology, agricultural and food technology, as well as in the sports-adjacent sector, robotics and broadcast technologies. One of his biotechnology bets, Colossal Biosciences, recently made headlines with its reported $10.2 billion valuation. 'I met the co-founder of Enhanced Games (Aron D'Souza) at a private conclave staged by FII (Future Investment Initiative) last year in Riyadh. This was my first exposure to the idea of the Enhanced Games. 'It was a closed-door working group held to discuss democratizing access to healthy aging solutions. Some of the foremost figures were present; from stakeholders from the Saudi Health in All Policies committee, to scientists, to entrepreneurs and investors.' 'I do think the Enhanced Games can play an important role here; how better to analyze the effects of enhancement than on elite athletes? People who are in the best possible shape physically that they can be naturally, and then build on that,' he said. 'When your baseline is elite athlete level, then we can really see what biohacking and these enhancements can do. 'I do think it is ethical, because there is no subjectivity and no varying board rules, and because it is upfront and clear about the idea that everyone is competing with their own approach to enhancement.' Certainly the games seem to appeal to athletes either coming to the end of their careers or ones for whom Olympic and international success remain out of reach. Established figures, including Australian swimming coach Brett Hawke, have backed the idea. At the age of 31, four-time Olympic Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev will take part in the Enhanced Games, having received a $1 million prize for breaking the long-standing 50-meter freestyle world record with a time of 20.89 seconds. 'Being the first to break a world record at the Enhanced Games means a lot to me. I'm proud to lead the way,' said the athlete who specialized in sprint and butterfly events, and earned a silver in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championship in South Korea. However, having not consistently been at the top of the sport, he sees these Games as an opportunity to make up for missed opportunities. 'One year at the Enhanced Games could earn me more than six Olympic cycles combined,' Gkolomeev told Arab News. 'I've never had this kind of support; doctors, nutritionists, therapists, all working to make me better.' Prince Khaled accepts that participation will depend entirely on the choices of the individual athletes and their particular circumstances. 'There are athletes who are not going to want to join, and then there are those who will be the early adopters,' he said. 'At launch, there is already a record-breaker, who just won a million dollars. 'Is this going to make everyone rush to sign up? No, but this will definitely spark some honest and much-needed discussions about the irregularities between sporting rules and different governing bodies, and the allegations of unfair treatment levied against some athletes over others.' 'Democratizing access to aging solutions is what first interested me in the Games, and then I began to think of the implications on sport. 'I'm sure you know about the politics involved when deciding which athletes were accused of using enhancements, in several instances countries felt their athletes were unfairly targeted. 'At the Enhanced Games, this political maneuvering is completely removed from the equation. I bet if you ask the athletes that felt they were wrongly maligned, they would be pretty quick to agree that politics played a role.' In its statement last year, the International Fair Play Committee said the Games 'represent a potentially catastrophic healthcare risk' to the athletes. The Enhanced Games' website meanwhile promises medical vigilance and safe participation for the athletes. Critics will rightly question just where the line is drawn in terms of the use of performance-enhancing substances. 'To my knowledge, there are two cohorts, one is enhanced with their own resources and medical guidance, and one cohort that is officially under the Enhanced Games,' said Prince Khaled. 'For the second cohort, there is a full treatment protocol lined up for athletes. 'They will definitely have better medical guidance and access to the latest in monitoring methodologies and technologies with the Enhanced Games than they have ever had in their professional sporting careers.' 'Everyone knows one of the biggest barriers to elite athletics is cost,' he added. 'The Enhanced Games is bringing the best medical and scientific protocols and giving the athletes access to that. 'To bring this conversation full circle, this is something enabled by funding, and in venture capital, funding is, most of the time, allocated to groundbreaking entities and ideas.' Prince Khaled said he is a 'cautious believer in biohacking' which is, simply stated, the optimization of nutrition to enhance energy, cognitive function, and overall health and well-being. 'I think longevity medicine and healthspan and various other biotechnology sectors are burgeoning for a reason. 'KBW Ventures is invested in biotechnology, health tech, medtech, and with the Enhanced Games, I consider it kind of an ultimate biohacking opportunity for elite athletes,' he said. 'I expect that so much valuable scientific data on reversing biological age, and repair and so much more is going to come out of the Enhanced Games,' Prince Khaled added. 'On a separate note, the athletes that participate in the Games have to undergo what is termed health testing, ensuring that they are fit to compete. They also need to disclose everything that they are using to enhance their performance.' At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, the world of athletics was shaken to its core when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of the gold medal he had won with a world record time of 9.79 seconds. Author Richard Moore's 'The Dirtiest Race in History' remains a seminal read on the events of Sept. 24, 1988. Since then, many other athletes have been banned from participating, or stripped of medals, for similar offences with increasingly less fanfare and shock. But is the world ready now to consign such considerations to history? The clock is now ticking toward the first Enhanced Game. It remains a tough, if not almost impossible sell, for a sporting community brought up on the concepts of fair play and the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. Whether the world is ready for these Games, and how the future will judge these developments, remain open questions.
