Enhanced Games: Pushing human potential, or lethal circus?

Published 7 June 2026 · us

Investors like Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. see the Enhanced Games as proof of how far human limits can stretch. For doping experts, the

Investors like Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. see the Enhanced Games as proof of how far human limits can stretch. For doping experts, the danger is clear and grave. DW explains the latest controversial sporting event. What are the Enhanced Games? It's an event where athletes are permitted to take pharmaceuticals ordinarily banned in sports. Substances must only be approved by the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a much lower bar than traditional sporting anti-doping organizations would employ. Launched in 2023, organizers promised thousands of athletes competing in five sports. After aborted attempts to start it earlier, and some "exhibition events" featuring what the Enhanced Games call a swimming world record, the first Enhanced Games take place on May 24 in Las Vegas. In the end, it will feature 42 athletes across four sports — swimming, sprinting weightlifting and "strongman." There is plenty of money behind it, with each event offering a total purse of $500,000 (€430,000), with $250,000 awarded to first place. There are also appearance fees and record-breaking bonuses, with $1 million for world records broken in the 100m sprint and swimming's 50m freestyle. A purpose-built stadium has a capacity of 2,500 for the event. Why are the Enhanced Games controversial? A spokesperson for the Games told DW their aims are to "unlock their [athletes'] best performances under the highest medical and clinical supervision transparently and safely using legal, licensed and approved FDA substances." But critics argue that any chemically-enhanced records are moot and the pursuit of them under such circumstances is lethally dangerous. "It's not a sporting event, it's a show, it's a circus," Michael Cepic, chairman of the Central European Anti-Doping Organization, told DW. Cepic said the notion that the Games prioritize athlete safety is nonsensical. "There's just one simple thing everybody can understand. Pharmaceutical products are developed for people with diseases and sickness. If you use them when you have no such issues, it can't be good for your body." The Games' spokesperson added that their results are published on a US government site for peer review, but said the public will not know the intake of each athlete.

"We cannot publish individual protocols as this would violate personal healthcare information. However, we will be providing an aggregate total of substances used across all athletes later this week," he said on Tuesday. What are the risks for Enhanced Games athletes? While it's not mandatory to take anything and there seem to be a handful of athletes who aren't planning to do so, Cepic supposes that most will. Regardless of which products are being tailored to which sport, he said, the danger of death and damage is very real. Athletes have been in a training camp under medical supervision in the United Arab Emirates for some time, with drug programs tailored in order for them to peak this weekend. "I think as a society we have to ask ourselves what the development has been in the last 2,000 years. In the Roman Empire, you also had exceptional fighters fighting each other until one dropped dead," he said. "Now, people are endangering their own health just to deliver a big show for the entertainment of the audience and for the money. "The difference maybe in the Roman Empire was that people died immediately. Here they may be doing all this stuff at 30, then will die at 43 or 47 and nobody cares." Cepic also expects this first event to only drive further negative health impacts in the following years. "Let's say you are a 50-meter swimmer not on substances, and to beat the world record, you need one tablet of a given substance per day. You take it and beat the world record, fine. "If you are the next person who wants to beat that record, well, you have to take two tablets per day. And so on and so on and so on. Sooner or later, these bodies will not be able to take it anymore." Gains worth the risk for some athletes For some athletes, the financial gains are worth the risks, if they see any. "Swimming was my life for many years," Marius Kusch, one of the two German competitors, told press agency DPA.