Two years after the controversial idea of the doping-encouraged Enhanced Video games entered the general public eye, Video games founder and president Dr. Aron of Souza introduced the host metropolis and dates for its inaugural version: Las Vegas, Might 22–24, 2026.
The primary version of the Enhanced Video games will likely be held at Resorts World Las Vegas on the Strip, with all occasions going down in a custom-built competitors complicated contained in the lodge and on line casino. Not like the Olympic Video games, which characteristic 32 sports activities, the Enhanced Video games will restrict its program to only three: swimming, athletics and weightlifting.
Right here’s the total record of occasions:
- Swimming: 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly
- Observe & Discipline: 100m dash, 100m/110m hurdles
- Weightlifting: Snatch, Clear & Jerk
The complicated will embrace a four-lane, 50-metre pool, a six-lane dash observe, and a weightlifting stage. All occasions will likely be streamed globally in what D’Souza describes as an “immersive digital format” meant to reshape the best way followers expertise sport.
“We dwell in a world reworked by science—from vaccines to AI,” mentioned D’Souza in a press launch. “However sport has stood nonetheless. Immediately, we’re not updating the rulebook—we’re rewriting it. And we’re doing it safely, ethically and boldly.”
What are the Enhanced Video games?
Based on their web site, “The Enhanced Video games promotes using science and focuses on core sports activities, aiming to interrupt world information and guarantee truthful compensation for athletes.” They argue that performance-enhancing medicine, when used responsibly, can considerably improve coaching outcomes and permit athletes to succeed in their full potential.
D’Souza mentioned his motive behind creating the Enhanced Video games goes past simply athletes utilizing medicine. He needs to design a modernized science-driven occasion for social media and broadcast tv, which he hopes will enchantment to the general public’s brief consideration spans. D’Souza isn’t the one man behind the challenge; his idea has attracted a number of Silicon Valley buyers, together with German-American billionaire and co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thieland the son of the present U.S. president, Donald Trump Jr., who’ve each invested a single-digit million-dollar determine into the enterprise.
In a March 2024 interview with Canadian OperatingD’Souza mentioned these Video games will likely be constructed on giving athletes the popularity and compensation they deserve: “For the quantity of labor these athletes need to put in, they don’t seem to be compensated for it (in comparison with skilled athletes in different sports activities). They don’t have skilled leagues, and get little to no recognition for his or her performances.”
Every of the 9 occasions will carry a prize purse of US$500,000, with US$250,000 awarded to first place. As well as, the Enhanced Video games will provide look charges and record-breaking bonuses, together with US$1,000,000 for breaking world information within the 100m dash (observe) and 50m freestyle (swim)–what D’Souza signifies are the 2 definitive exams of uncooked human pace.
Based on D’Souza, 4 of the ten quickest 100-metre sprinters in historical past have approached him, and he hopes to have a roster of 100 athletes throughout the 9 disciplines come subsequent 12 months.
The criticism
The Enhanced Video games have confronted widespread criticism from senior figures in anti-doping and sports activities, together with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe. The athletics head didn’t mince phrases, calling the doping-encouraged competitors “bollocks” and “a harmful clown present.”
Travis Tygartchief government of the U.S. Anti-Doping Company (USADA), echoed Coe, calling it a “clown present” and the World Anti-Doping Company described it as a “harmful and irresponsible challenge”.
On the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Coe warned that any athlete collaborating within the Enhanced Video games would face a prolonged ban from athletics. World Aquatics (previously FINA) additionally condemned the occasion, stating that if any of its athletes took half, they’d be banned from competitors.
