A doping free-for-all Enhanced Games calls itself the answer to doping in sports. Opponents say it poses a danger to health
The 2024 Olympics are fast approaching and as athletes gear up for one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events, one entrepreneur has a different idea of what “faster, higher, stronger” – the former motto of the Games – might represent.
The Enhanced Games says it is an “alternative” to what it calls the “corrupt Olympics Games.”
Athletes competing at the Enhanced Games will be free to use performance-enhancing drugs, they won’t be tested and will be under no obligation to declare which substances they have taken in order to compete.
That’s quite a contrast to the Olympics’ doping protocols. The International Testing Agency (ITA) will be responsible for looking after Paris 2024’s anti-doping program. Six years ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which oversees the Olympics, delegated its entire clean sport program to the ITA. However, historically the Olympic Games have been dogged by a series of doping and kickback scandals.
When approached for comment on the Enhanced Games and allegations of corruption, the IOC told CNN Sport that “the idea does not merit any comment.”
‘Danger to health, to sport’
CNN Sport interviewed a number of experts in the field of doping for this story, who expressed concern that the Enhanced Games was an extremely dangerous proposition.
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who exposed Russia’s state-sponsored doping program – a massive, years-long effort which benefited more than 1,000 athletes between 2011 and 2015 – said that the Enhanced Games is a “danger to health, to sport.”
Whether the Enhanced Games will ever take place remains an open question, but the very idea is drawing considerable blowback from leading anti-doping officials and sporting organizations.
The Enhanced Games is the brainchild of businessman Aron D’Souza. He is also the founding editor of “The Journal Jurisprudence,” a quarterly publication on legal philosophy, according to his website, which also describes him as an “avid athlete.”
Recently, D’Souza told CNN Sport he has “signed term sheets with prominent venture capital firms” in relation to the Enhanced Games and is “waiting on the lawyers to finish long-form drafting.” He also said that a funding announcement is planned for early December.
Although not legally binding, term sheets are a serious expression of intent by both sides, setting out the broad principles of an agreement.
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D’Souza believes what he calls a “science-driven” competition is the next step in the evolution of sport, suggesting that the absence of drug testing will level the playing field.
While data from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suggests that less than 2% of athletes dope, Raphael Faiss, Research Manager at the centre of Research and Expertise in anti-doping sciences at the University of Lausanne, told CNN Sport that the number of athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs is likely significantly higher; his research suggests the figure could be between 15 to 18%.
Faiss and his team compared athletes’ blood results collected by WADA-accredited labs to values from healthy adults, as well as doped and undoped athletes; the closer the values are to those of subjects to whom erythropoietin (EPO, which is used in blood doping) had been administered, the higher the chances that they’re actually doping.
This analysis, Faiss said, is not proof of doping, but is a “robust way” of analyzing the data, allowing scientists to make an estimate for doping prevalence, as well as targeting athletes most likely to be doping.
In written comments to CNN Sport, WADA said: “Determining the level of [doping] prevalence is a priority for WADA and something that is being addressed,” explaining that, since 2017, a “prevalence working group” has been established to “determine if strategies, reliable methods and tools can be developed to adequately assess the prevalence of doping in sports.”
WADA told CNN Sport that the group has delivered “several recommendations and guidance to WADA but not the final ones yet.”
WADA has reservations about Faiss’ study and pointed to the “complexity of trying to measure [doping] prevalence,” highlighting that reports have “greatly varying results.”
The anti-doping organization added: “No single method will give a definitive prevalence figure for doping in all sports or even a single discipline.”
Editor’s note: You can find WADA’s full statement at the bottom of this article.
‘A dangerous clown show’
Travis Tygart, the Chief Executive Officer at the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), told CNN Sport that the idea of an Enhanced Games is “farcical … likely illegal in many [US] states” and “a dangerous clown show, not real sport.”
Substances such as anabolic steroids – which help to build muscle mass by enabling athletes to train harder and recover quickly from strenuous workouts – are classified as a Schedule III drug by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
When asked whether anabolic steroids will be allowed at the games and whether athletes would be tested for illegal drugs such as cocaine, D’Souza told CNN Sport that “we will not be drug testing at the games.”
He added: “We do not propose to regulate what athletes use.”
Anabolic steroids may be prescribed by a licensed physician for the treatment of certain conditions such as testosterone deficiency, but if used in the US without a prescription from a licensed physician, a first conviction could result in a one-year prison sentence and a $1,000 fine.
But that isn’t the only potential legal jeopardy the Enhanced Games faces, according to American lawyer Jim Walden, who represents Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov.
“If you look at the Enhanced Games website, it’s almost as though they’re advertising their disregard of the law,” Walden told CNN Sport.
“They wrap themselves up in what I will call the cloak of legitimacy by using phrases like body autonomy and coming out as an enhanced athlete.
“I hope they’re thinking hard about how they’re going to pull this off in the world in which the FBI has a specific unit that is called the Sports and Gaming Initiative that’s focusing on these very issues.”