In a move that could redefine (or completely derail) the future of elite sports, the Enhanced Games are set to launch next May in Las Vegas, offering athletes massive prize money for performances powered by science, technology, and, most controversially, performance-enhancing drugs.
Billed as a bold rejection of traditional anti-doping rules, the Enhanced Games will take place from May 21 to 24, 2026, at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip.
The lineup includes athletics, swimming, and weightlifting, but unlike the Olympics, there’s no ban on testosterone, EPO, or any other banned substance.
In fact, enhancement is part of the pitch.
🇺🇸 LAS VEGAS 2026
— Enhanced Games (@enhanced_games) May 21, 2025
The first Enhanced Games are coming to Las Vegas in May 2026.
World-class athletes in athletics, aquatics, and strength will compete to break records, win prizes of up to a million dollars, and redefine the limits of human performance.
📅 Memorial Day Weekend… pic.twitter.com/VWNgPM2rHe
“The Enhanced Games is renovating the Olympic model for the 21st century,” said Aron D’Souza, the Australian-born entrepreneur behind the event. “We are creating a new category of human excellence.”
That event also comes with staggering rewards.
Athletes who break world records under the Enhanced Games banner will receive a $1 million bonus. Standard event winners can still walk away with as much as $500,000.
Compare that to the roughly $37,500 payout for an Olympic gold medal from the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the appeal becomes clearer, especially for athletes who feel underpaid and overregulated.
A Swim into Uncharted Waters
D’Souza and his backers are already pointing to Greek-Bulgarian swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev as proof of concept.
In February, Gkolomeev swam the 50-meter freestyle in 20.89 seconds, two-hundredths of a second faster than the official world record that has stood since 2009.
The performance, filmed under Olympic-level conditions, was featured in a promotional documentary titled 50 Meters to History: The First Superhuman.
Gkolomeev walked away with the first $1 million Enhanced Games payout.
What enhancements he used remains undisclosed, protected under medical confidentiality, though D’Souza claimed that “he should be retired, but now he’s swimming faster than ever,” crediting “technology and science” for the result.
Gkolomeev wore a full-body polyurethane suit not approved by World Aquatics, swimming’s global governing body. Organizers say the suit was commercially available and not decisive, but critics see it as another example of how the Games blur the line between science fiction and sport.
Where’s The Money Coming From
The Enhanced Games have drawn funding from a mix of tech and political heavyweights.
Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and backer of numerous biotech ventures, is one of the lead investors. Donald Trump Jr.’s firm 1789 Capital has also poured millions into the project, alongside crypto-aligned hedge funds and venture firms focused on AI and life extension.
D’Souza has framed the Games as not just a sporting revolution but a cultural and political one. “In the technology world, we’re deeply loved,” he said. “The traditional legacy sporting world is scared. They’re scared of change.”
That fear is not unfounded.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has condemned the Games in no uncertain terms, warning that encouraging open drug use, no matter how supervised, endangers athletes and undermines the integrity of sport.
“Thinking that because you do medical checks on the spot gives you a good idea of the health risks of doping is nonsense,” said Olivier Rabin, WADA’s science director. “It’s like the Roman circus. You sacrifice people for entertainment.”
Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, was more blunt: “It’s a dangerous clown show, not real sport.”
But D’Souza insists the current system is riddled with hypocrisy, that doping already exists in elite competition, just hidden in the shadows, done unsafely and secretly.
The Enhanced Games, he argues, flip that script by offering transparency, health screening, and a chance to test the boundaries of what human beings are capable of, with the help of science.
Each athlete will undergo extensive medical screening, including MRIs, electrocardiograms, and blood panels. An independent medical board will oversee health protocols. Drugs must be legally prescribed, and no traditional anti-doping testing will be conducted, though athletes must disclose what substances they’re using.
You Can Even Buy “Enhancement”
Beyond organizing a sporting event, the Enhanced Games has quietly built a business around selling the very enhancements it promotes on the track and in the pool.
Launching in August 2025, the company’s telehealth platform will offer U.S. customers access to performance-boosting treatments through a subscription model.
For a refundable $99 deposit, prospective clients can reserve priority access to what Enhanced describes as a “clinician-supervised enhancement program.”
If deemed eligible after a health assessment, including biomarker testing and a medical intake, they’ll pay $399 per month for personalized protocols aimed at boosting testosterone, muscle retention, metabolic health, recovery, libido, and cognitive focus.
Treatments include prescription-only therapies using drugs with FDA-approved active pharmaceutical ingredients, and in some cases, off-label compounds from FDA-registered pharmacies.
While many of the substances Enhanced promotes would violate anti-doping rules in sport, the company emphasizes that their use is legal when prescribed for private, non-competitive purposes.
Enhanced’s platform is marketed as bringing “elite performance science” to the general public.
Clients will receive protocols tailored to their biomarkers and performance goals, with direct access to clinicians and ongoing plan adjustments, all conducted remotely through a secure telehealth system.
With language promising a “seamless, clinician-led process” and enhancements “trusted by the world’s fastest athletes,” the company is not just selling access to its Games, but to its vision of the enhanced human experience.
A Parallel Sports Universe?
Organizers maintain that they’re not trying to overwrite the Olympic model, just build a parallel one, akin to how professional athletes once challenged the amateur-only model of the early 20th century.
They’re calling for a future where enhancement is not only accepted but normalized, where 60-year-olds break sprint records and elite competition becomes a proving ground for technologies that could someday benefit the general public.
Critics aren’t convinced. And so far, broadcast deals and major sponsorships remain elusive, though D’Souza claims negotiations are ongoing.
Public opinion is also far from settled. A 2024 YouGov survey found that nearly 70% of respondents opposed the use of performance-enhancing drugs in any sporting context, even with medical oversight.
The event will proceed, regardless.
Swimming events will include the 50m and 100m freestyle, and the 50m and 100m butterfly. On the track, there’s the 100m sprint and 100m/110m hurdles. In weightlifting, the snatch and clean and jerk will be featured. More athlete announcements are expected this summer.
Will the World Tune In—or Turn Away?
If the Enhanced Games succeed in pulling big names, big viewership, and big money, the ripple effects could be massive, not just for athletes, but for how we define fairness, health, and the very spirit of sport.
The Games’ tagline is simple: “Live Enhanced.”
What remains to be seen is whether the world is ready to watch.
