The Enhanced Games, a proposed Olympic-style, drug-fuelled sports gathering that allows competitor doping, is nonsense and competitors would be “moronic” to join it. So says World Athletics president Lord Coe who dismissed the planned event in its entirety on Thursday.
The event, founded by Australian businessman Aron D’Souza in 2023, would not be subject to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules and is scheduled to be held at a date still to be announced, as Breitbart News reported.
Athletics, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics and combat sports have all been listed as main events.
D’Souza said athletes set to take part in this summer’s Paris Olympics have expressed an interest in competing, arguing “When 44% of athletes already use performance enhancements, it is time to safely celebrate science.”
The BBC reports Coe countered by warning anyone who does would face a lengthy ban.
“I can’t really get excited about it,” Coe said at a news conference before the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, which run from Friday to Sunday.
“There’s only one message and that is if anybody is moronic enough to feel that they want to take part in that, and they are from the traditional, philosophical end of our sport, they’ll get banned and they’ll get banned for a long time.”
D’Souza said athletes who have contacted him are keen to “make some real money” during non-Olympic years.
WADA has called the Enhanced Games “a dangerous and irresponsible concept,” the BBC report outlines.
“I’m sure there are crazy things happening in other sectors, we occasionally get them,” added Coe. “I really don’t get sleepless nights over it. It’s not going to be a page turner, is it?”
In response to Coe’s comments, D’Souza said: “The Enhanced Games will allow both natural and enhanced athletes to compete side by side – with no requirement for anyone to be enhanced.
“We have been clear about this from the outset, and I can assure Lord Coe that there will be nothing ‘moronic’ about our athletes.”
