Athlete and swimmer Andriy Govorov speaks to members of the press about joining the Enhanced Games roster, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, May 21, 2025. ARAFAT BARBAKH / REUTERS

The Enhanced Games, a sports festival that bills itself as better than the Olympics because it allows athletes to benefit from using performance-enhancing drugs, will kick off next year in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. The inaugural competition in Sin City will feature swimming, track and field and weightlifting, in an event designed to disrupt a status quo in the international anti-doping movement that some feel is failing.

One of the key supporters is a group called 1789 Equity, backed in part by Donald Trump Jr. It has added funding "in the double-digit millions," according to games founder Aron D'Souza. Athletes will compete for up to $500,000 in purses per event, with bonuses starting at $250,000 for those who break records.

Australian James Magnussen, who medaled in swimming in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, was the first athlete to commit. He has since been joined by swimmers Kristian Gkolomeev, Andrii Govorov and Josif Miladinov. Gkolomeev competed in four Olympics, including last year in Paris. Govorov was at the 2016 Olympics and Miladinov swam in the Olympics in 2021. Magnussen said he followed World Anti-Doping Agency rules and underwent numerous tests through that organization and Sport Integrity Australia.

The International Olympic Committee and WADA have panned the idea, which first emerged in 2023. "If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it," the IOC said through a spokesperson. "WADA condemns the Enhanced Games as a dangerous and irresponsible concept and is very concerned about its emergence," WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said.

But some in the anti-doping world believe the system is so broken that the idea of sports with highly monitored use of otherwise banned drugs could be a more effective way of finding out who is fastest and strongest.

WADA and the IOC's ability to fight drugs in sports has come under scrutiny after more than a decade of scandals, highlighted by one involving Chinese swimmers and another that consumed the entire Russian Olympic machine.

The Enhanced Games announcement came a day before a scheduled Congressional hearing in Washington at which WADA's strained relationship with US drug-fighting authorities was to be scrutinized; that hearing was later postponed until June.

Le Monde with AP

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