Enhanced Games launch in Las Vegas with athletes using performance-enhancing drugs

Under the Las Vegas sun, billboards advertise the phrase "Live Enhanced" as an announcer rehearses introductions for British swimmer Ben Proud and other athletes at a new open-air arena.

The arena is hosting the inaugural Enhanced Games, an event that will allow athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs to try to break world records in track, weightlifting and swimming.

The competition on Sunday will offer $25 million in prize money. Winners receive cash prizes, and athletes who set world records in certain events can earn a $1 million bonus. The drugs must be legal and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but substances such as testosterone and human growth hormone, which are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, are permitted and promoted.

The project was founded in 2023 by entrepreneurs Aron D'Souza and Maximilian Martin. Investors include billionaire Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.

Health experts have warned that anabolic steroids and growth hormones can cause strokes and cardiovascular damage.

Organizers say the event will push the limits of human performance. Critics, including officials in the Olympic movement, call it an affront to the principles of competitive sport.

"You don't have to be pressured or use drugs in order to be the best," said Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He told the BBC that the solution to doping problems in the Olympics is reform, not legalization.

Tygart said athletes need assurance that the Olympics are clean. "We don't want kids to have to say, 'in order to win an Olympic medal, when I'm 18 or 20 years old, I have to inject myself every day in the rear end with a potentially dangerous drug,'" he said.

Enhanced says the event brings into the open what it describes as widespread but hidden doping in other sports.

At a media event at Resorts World casino, athletes answered questions for two hours. Only strongman Hafthor Bjornsson, who hopes to break his own 510 kg deadlift record, disclosed the substances he is taking. Bjornsson, who played the Mountain in Game of Thrones, said steroid use is accepted in professional strongman competition.

American sprinter Shania Collins said participants are being transparent. "We're being up front and honest and transparent from the start," she told the BBC. "So how can you challenge our integrity when we're forthright with the information?"

Several governing bodies have criticized athletes for taking part. UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner said he was "appalled" when former British sprinter Reece Prescod signed up. UK Anti-Doping called the event a "reckless venture." GB Aquatics said British swimmer Ben Proud will not be selected again for Britain's Olympic team if he competes.

Proud, who won silver in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics, hopes to break the world record and win $1 million. If he wins without breaking the record, he will receive $250,000. He told the BBC there is little money in traditional sport and that it would take 13 years of winning world titles to match the prize money on offer.

Enhanced has already paid $1 million to a swimmer who broke a record at a pre-event trial. Of the 42 athletes competing on Sunday, most will use testosterone, and some will also use human growth hormone and stimulants such as Adderall. Some athletes, including American swimmer Hunter Armstrong, will compete without drugs.

Armstrong said he wants to compete clean and return for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's Tygart said athletes who pass Olympic drug tests can still qualify, though World Aquatics has threatened bans for those who compete in the Enhanced Games.

The Enhanced Group began trading on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. The company is also selling performance-enhancing medicines and supplements online.

Joe Vennare, founder of Fitt Insider, said normalizing these drugs could have unknown health and cultural effects. He cited rising body dysmorphia among young men and the influence of social media filters and cosmetic procedures.

Athletes and spectators at the event have spoken about "biohacking" and pushing the body beyond natural limits.