If Russian skater Kamila Valieva was participating in the Enhanced Games instead of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, maybe she’d still have a gold medal. But Valieva was disqualified for doping at the ’22 Games nearly two years after the event and Russia’s gold medals will now be awarded to American skaters Evan Bates, Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Madison Chock, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou.
With the Summer Olympics coming to Paris this summer, doping will once again be a hot-button issue — but not at the aforementioned Enhanced Games. The brainchild of Australian businessman and intellectual property law expert Aron D’Souza, who led billionaire Peter Thiel‘s litigation against Gawker Media over the Hulk Hogan sex tape, the Enhanced Games are meant to be a reinvention of the Olympics where doping will be allowed and tacitly encouraged in order to create a level playing field for all participants. After all, if your opponent was getting a chemical boost, wouldn’t you want that same edge in order to give yourself the best chance to win?
The Enhanced Games, which will feature track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics and combat sports, have yet to name a host city but it does sound like they will be held as organizers announced this week they’ve secured millions of dollars in funding from Thiel, who founded PayPal with Elon Musk, biotechnology investor Christian Angermayer and crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan.
“The Enhanced Games is pleased to have the support of Christian, Peter, Balaji and all our other investors. They see the vision of a new model of sports, that openly celebrates scientific innovation and honestly represents the use of performance enhancements in sports today,” D’Souza said in a release. “Unlike the Olympic Games, Enhanced believes that excellence deserves to be rewarded. Support from the world’s leading venture capitalists enables us to create the structures that pay athletes fairly.”
Does the World Need an Olympics Without Drug Testing?
Australian businessman Aron D’Souza certainly thinks soTaxpayers will not foot the bill for the for-profit Enhanced Games, which will emphasize breaking world records, as funding will be completely provided via private-sector funding and incentives, according to D’Souza.
“Just as the ancient Olympics were revived and renovated in 1896 for the Victorian world, the Enhanced Games is once again renovating the Olympic model for the twenty-first century,” he said. “In the era of accelerating technological and scientific change, the world needs a sporting event that embraces the future, particularly advances in medical science.”
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
