World Aquatics recently announced that athletes, coaches, and officials who support sporting events that encourage performance-enhancing drugs would not be allowed to compete at elite-level competitions from now on.
Particularly, this decision aims toward the Enhanced Games, an event that openly embraces the usage of scientific and pharmaceutical enhancements for athletes.
Husain al-Musallam, the organization’s president, expressed: “Those who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events.”
Furthermore, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) also warned that the Enhanced Games “jeopardizes athletes’ health and well-being” by encouraging the misuse of powerful substances and promoting methods that “should only be prescribed, if at all, for specific therapeutic needs”.
All about the Enhanced Games
The Enhanced Games is an Olympic-style competition that is privately funded, and it was scheduled to happen in Las Vegas next May. This tournament allows the use of banned substances under the international anti-doping regulations.
In this event, athletes will not be subjected to drug testing, and they may use customized pharmaceutical plans and programs, given that their usage is disclosed to event organizers. They also have an option to take part in clinical trials involving FDA-designated “Investigational Medicinal Products.”
This event will be launched on May 21-24, 2026, and it will include sporting events such as sprinting, swimming, and weightlifting. Moreover, organizers said that a prize money of up to $500,000 per event, with $1 million bonuses, will be offered for world records in the 100m sprint and 50m freestyle.
Athletes like Australian swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist James Magnussen have committed to participating in the event so far.
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Aron D’Souza, the event’s founder, promoted the Enhanced Games as a platform to embrace “superhumanity”, and a future where pharmaceutical and technological enhancements are normalized.
Moreover, D’Souza stated that the anti-doping policy is “outdated and hypocritical”, and said that the Enhanced Games will provide a safer and more transparent alternative for athletes.
In a social media post, the organizers of the Enhanced Games shared: “🇺🇸 LAS VEGAS 2026… 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.”
Some netizens are in favor of this new event and shared their support in the comments section: “Looking forward to this”, “🔥 this is going to be epic”, “I’m definitely going to be there. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💲💲💲💲”, “this is what I was talking about”, and “This is incredible. Who needs program support? 🔥”
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