The first edition of the Enhanced Games, the controversial competition dubbed the ‘doping Olympics’, will be held in Las Vegas next year.
The event will include three sports – athletics, swimming and weightlifting – at a purpose-built complex inside the Resorts World hotel in May 2026, with the backing of a venture capital fund headed up Donald Trump Jr, the US president’s son.
Athletes will be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs and winners will receive $250,000, with a $1million bonus for anyone who breaks the world record in the 100 metres sprint or 50m freestyle.
‘The Enhanced Games is renovating the Olympic model for the 21st century,’ said the event’s founder Aron D’Souza, the London-based Australian entrepreneur.
‘In the era of accelerating technological and scientific change, the world needs a sporting event that embraces the future – particularly advances in medical science.
‘We are not just organising competition, we are in the business of unlocking human potential. We are the vanguard of super-humanity.’
The Enhanced Games – founded by Aron D’Souza (pictured) – will launch next year
Enhanced Games organisers have claimed Kristian Gkolomeev (pictured) has already broken the 50m freestyle world record after starting a doping programme
Lord Coe has been fiercely critical of the Enhanced Games, which some view as the ‘doping Olympics’
Enhanced Games organisers claim one of their athletes, Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev, has already broken the 50m freestyle world record after following a doping programme.
The Bulgarian-born 31-year-old is said to have clocked 20.89sec in a time trial in the US in February, 0.02sec quicker than the official record set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in 2009.
Gkolomeev, who was fifth in the 50m freestyle at last summer’s Paris Olympics, wore a full-length polyurethane ‘supersuit’, which was banned from competition a few weeks after Cielo set the world record in one.
It is claimed he also swam 21.03sec in ‘jammer’ shorts – which do comply with World Aquatic regulations – in April, which beats the best non-supersuit swim of US star Caeleb Dressel by 0.01sec.
Gkolomeev, whose efforts feature on a new documentary about the Enhanced Games, has been awarded $1m, but World Aquatics insist they will not recognise his achievements.
‘The Enhanced Games gave me the resources and the team to unlock a new level of performance – and now the whole world can see what’s possible,’ said Gkolomee, who began taking banned substances in January.
D’Souza added: ‘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.
‘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 is set to be held annually and organisers expect to have around 100 athletes competing next year in the 100m sprint, 100m/110m hurdles, 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly, and weightlifting’s snatch and clean and jerk.
USADA CEO Travis Tygart (pictured) claims the Games will be a ‘dangerous clown show’
However, the concept has been slammed by anti-doping chiefs and sports administrators, with World Athletics president Lord Coe branding it as ‘b******s* last year.
Travis Tygart, CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, said it was a ‘dangerous clown show’, while World Anti-Doping Agency science director Olivier Rabin described it as a ‘Roman circus, sacrificing the lives of people purely for entertainment’.
Jane Rumble, chief executive of UK Anti-Doping, added: ‘We are really, really concerned by this concept. It flies in the face of everything UKAD stands for and it flies in the face of fair play.
‘Any sporting event which permits performance-enhancing drugs is ultimately unsafe – unhealthy for athletes. It is not good for their wellbeing.’
