LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Enhanced Games, a sports festival that bills itself as better than the Olympics because it allows athletes to benefit from using performance-enhancing drugs, will kick off next year in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend.
The inaugural competition in Sin City will feature swimming, track and field and weightlifting, in an event designed to disrupt a status quo in the international anti-doping movement that some feel is failing.
One of the key supporters is a group called 1789 Equity backed in part by Donald Trump Jr. It has added funding “in the double-digit millions,” according to games founder Aron D'Souza. Athletes will compete for up to $500,000 in purses per event, with bonuses starting at $250,000 for those who break records.
Australian James Magnussen, who medaled in swimming in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, was the the first athlete to commit. He has since been joined by swimmers Kristian Gkolomeev, Andrii Govorov and Josif Miladinov. Gkolomeev competed in four Olympics, including last year in Paris. Govorov was at the 2016 Olympics and Miladinov swam in the Olympics in 2021.
Magnussen said he followed World Anti-Doping Agency rules and underwent numerous tests through that organization and Sport Integrity Australia.
“It frustrated me at times that not all athletes adhered to those same guidelines," Magnussen said. “But I think these two organizations sit quite separately, and I have very strong opinions that performance-enhancing drugs should not be used in clean sport. It is cheating and bending the rules, but this is a different set of rules, different set of guidelines, different product entirely.”
The International Olympic Committee and WADA have panned the idea, which first emerged in 2023.
“If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it,” the IOC said through a spokesperson.
“WADA condemns the Enhanced Games as a dangerous and irresponsible concept and is very concerned about its emergence,” WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said.
But some with background in the anti-doping world believe the system is so broken that the idea of sports with highly monitored use of otherwise banned drugs could be a more effective way of finding out who is fastest and strongest.
“I realized that not following the (WADA) rules was not so radical after all," Michael Ashenden, a former drug fighter who played a key role in creating tests for the blood-boosting drug Erythropoietin (EPO), wrote in a blog released before last year's Olympics.
WADA and the IOC's ability to fight drugs in sports has come under scrutiny after more than a decade of scandals, highlighted by one involving Chinese swimmers and another that consumed the entire Russian Olympic machine.
The Enhanced Games announcement came a day before a scheduled Congressional hearing in Washington at which WADA's strained relationship with U.S. drug-fighting authorities was to be scrutinized; that hearing was later postponed until June.
D'Souza insists his vision isn't so much about unfettered drug use, but rather, a group of athletes trying to push the limits while their health and drug intake is steadily monitored for safety.
“The Olympics are a representation of the past,” D'Souza said. “They’re rooted in ancient Greece, and they have this amateurish, natural ethos that is run by a bunch of European aristocrats. The Enhanced Games are very different. They're run by capitalists, who believe in the future, believe in science and technology.”
When are the Enhanced Games?
May 21-24, 2026.
Where will they take place?
Entirely within Resorts World Las Vegas on the north end of the Strip. D'Souza said a pool and track will be built on the property.
The organization also is making Las Vegas its full-time home and is looking to build a facility there for athletes to train throughout the year.
What events will be held?
The swimming events will include the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly and 100-meter butterfly. The 100 meters and the 100- and 110-meter hurdles make up the track events. The snatch as well as the clean and jerk are the events in weightlifting.
Organizers said the idea was to stage fast-paced events that will better hold viewers' attention, and D'Souza said about 200 athletes will participate in the debut event.
How can it be watched?
D'Souza said he didn't pursue a TV deal because he could zero in on his target audience better through social media.
How much will athletes be paid?
Each champion will receive $250,000 with the rest of the event purse distributed throughout the remainder of the field. A $1 million bonus will be presented if the world record in the 100 meters in track or 50 meters in swimming is broken.
What are the safety protocols?
Organizers said each athlete meets with a doctor to develop a plan that addresses their training goals in a safe manner. The athletes are regularly monitored, according to officials, to ensure they don't experience health issues.
“It's a very personalized approach,” said Dan Turner, Enhanced Games athlete safety director. “It depends on what they want to do and what works with them.”
An independent medical commission made up of specialists worldwide, which is paid by the organization but does not directly work for it, is involved in the protocol system.
“Looking at the science for such an important area, only a few studies have been done,” said Guido Pieles, a cardiologist and commission member. “Why is that? The stigma and the exclusion of enhancements in the Olympic Games and so on ... has made it difficult to do studies, particularly of high quality.”
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AP Sports Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
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