Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Adharanand Finn

‘Imagine if a 60-year-old broke Usain Bolt’s record’: the story behind the Enhanced Games, the Olympics where everyone dopes

Australian swimmer and former Olympian James Magnussen who will compete in the Enhanced Games, photographed in Sydney, Jun 2024
Former world champion swimmer James Magnussen, the only athlete who has so far signed up for the Enhanced Games, has no concerns about taking PEDs. ‘That’s fearmongering,’ he says. ‘It’ll all be prescribed by doctors.’ Photograph: Daniel Boud/The Guardian

It’s summer 2025. A large athletics stadium somewhere in Europe buzzes with crowds of people. Down on the track, eight men line up for the 100m final. Eight men pumped full of performance-enhancing drugs. One of these men is about to obliterate Usain Bolt’s 100m world record, which has stood for over 15 years. Perhaps they all are. It’s certainly possible: just the day before, a host of men ran the marathon in under two hours. The world record for the mile, which has stood for over a quarter of a century, has just been beaten by a guy with bionic implants in his legs. Out in the centre field, a javelin thrower wearing AI glasses with real-time decision support has secured another world record. The feats of the previous year’s Paris Olympics are long forgotten amid this celebration of human achievement.

“It promises to be one of the most compelling television events of all time,” says Aron D’Souza, the man behind the Enhanced Games. His idea is an alternative to the Olympics where performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), and even technological enhancements, are not banned but actively encouraged. It will be a battle of the biohacked.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.