The Enhanced Games Are a Scam on Steroids

The Enhanced Games allow athletes to dope in order to beat records in sprinting and swimming. It’s a perfect metaphor for the self-improvement industry: hurting your body and soul in order to chase a hollow idea of success.

American swimmer Cody Miller competes in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The sporting establishment’s backlash to the billionaire-backed Enhanced Games hasn’t prevented organizers from luring a number of former Olympic medalists, including swimmer Cody Miller, pictured above. (Adam Pretty / Getty Images)


A new epoch of sports — and, we are told, of human achievement — is upon us. The Enhanced Games, an athletic competition that organizers promise will “push the boundaries of human performance,” kicks off in Las Vegas this Sunday. The games’ path to redefining sports is simple: give athletes a bunch of performance-enhancing drugs instead of burdening them with pesky, intrusive restrictions.

Australian entrepreneur and Enhanced Games founder Aaron D’Souza argued that when Usain Bolt’s 100-meter dash record is inevitably broken in Vegas, “it will be a watershed moment to show that enhanced humans are better than ordinary humans.” In this send-up to “elite human performance,” billionaire right-wingers have been kind enough to craft an übermensch based on access to steroids instead of just racial superiority. It’s a telling insight into wider elitist projects, reflecting a modern social Darwinism rewarding whoever can most effectively scam their way to the top.

And even if watching a bunch of ’roided-out runners, swimmers, and weightlifters (presumably) break records isn’t appealing, the games have something for everyone. To cap things off, The Killers, a slightly softer choice than what you might expect from what is essentially an elaborate ad for human growth hormones, will put on a “stadium shaking performance.” Plus, Bryan Johnson, the hauntingly smooth multimillionaire who claims he “remains the same biological age” despite the passing of time, will provide TV commentary.

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