The Enhanced Games

The Enhanced Games promise unregulated performance enhancement in sport. But what are the risks, ethics and long-term health consequences?

I don’t think I’m the only one who’s enthralled by watching sports. Grace, power, courage and guile expressed in extraordinary acts of transcendent athletic brilliance. Our transient admiration for these moments of superhuman execution might even allow us to merge with these exceptional athletes, a psychological state that Freud theorised as “our embrace of the superego”. This might, in part, explain our fascination for these seemingly magnificent humans.

In 2026, all our doubts and ambivalence about sporting achievements are about to be put to bed. Enter the Enhanced Games, where athletes will be able to juice themselves up to the gills without sanction and without being required to tell us what they’re taking. The plan is to stage an Olympic-style event in May 2026, fittingly in Las Vegas, where athletes who were once world champions will be able to achieve herculean status, although their achievements and world records, if any are attained, won’t be official.

President of the International Association of Athletics Federations and former British athlete, Lord Sebastian Coe, has called this enterprise “a load of bollocks”. Echoing Coe’s sentiments, other experts have labelled it a “Roman circus”, while the World Anti-Doping Agency has described the Enhanced Games as “dangerous and irresponsible”. While speculations still swirl about the honesty of athletes who claim they are clean, organisers of these games indicate that their participants will be subject to medical surveillance and that performance-enhancing drugs will be used in a safe manner. They even go one step further, asserting that we can learn from what they are doing and use their formulations to live happier, healthier and, perhaps, even longer lives.

When I first entered the anti-ageing arena, the founders of this movement acknowledged Olympians and body builders as the forerunners of the longevity landscape, who were no doubt consuming all forms of preternatural potions way ahead of their time.

Aside from the Enhanced Games as a spectacle, organisers are hoping to enrol athletes in a clinical trial assessing the effect of performance-enhancing drugs on athletic achievement. Together with blood tests and a battery of assessments, including brain, cardiovascular and bone status, they claim that this can provide us with vital information that might even enable us to become healthier, longer-living humans.

As much as we can gauge what they might be taking, here is a list of some of the ingredients that might be in their smoothies, along with the scientific evidence that outlines their utility and potential downside.

Anabolic steroids

These remain the most popular enhancer in the “juicer’s” medicine cabinet and, despite their ability to pump up muscles and make them stronger, there is a dearth of concrete evidence confirming that they actually improve sports performance. Then there’s a laundry list of side effects including adverse effects on cholesterol profiles, the heart and the liver and, most alarmingly, their tendency to increase red cells, which can heighten the risk of developing heart attacks and strokes.

Selective androgen-receptor modulators

Athletes take these because they are seeking the muscle-building effect of steroids without the possible downsides. Like anabolic steroids, they do promote muscle growth, but they can enlarge the kidneys, liver and prostate and are harmful to the heart.

Growth hormones

Although growth hormones build muscle, they do not translate into any performance benefits in terms of speed, power or endurance. Side effects are many and include joint pain, soft tissue swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome and adverse effects on the heart.

Erythropoietin

Famously embraced by Lance Armstrong, having more red cells ensures more oxygen delivery to the tissues, but there is little evidence to show that performance is enhanced. Having more red cells ensures thicker blood and increases the risk of stroke.

Stimulants

Stimulants such as phenethylamines, caffeine and methamphetamines can improve cognitive and physical endurance, but it comes at a cost.

Peptides

Peptides such as growth hormones have been used by athletes because they are difficult to detect.

Gene doping

Now that we can alter our DNA, gene editing can no doubt be incorporated to manufacture superhumans. This can go horribly wrong if, for example, we engineer athletes with excessive amounts of hormones which turbocharge their performance, while significantly upscaling the risks associated with amplified hormone levels. There is an unadulterated assembly of natural substances including nitrates found in beetroot juice, pomegranate extract, green leafy vegetables and collagen peptides.

For those seeking a chemical transformation, the Enhanced Games is about to uncage the super athlete, a prototype we might seek to copy at our peril.