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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Sean Ingle

These are the questions I would ask the Enhanced Games … if they would let me

Ben Proud, who has joined the Enhanced Games, competing for Great Britain in 2018
Ben Proud, who has joined the Enhanced Games, competing for Great Britain in 2018. Photograph: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com/Shutterstock

The plan to fly to Las Vegas to cover what the Enhanced Games claims is the “next frontier of human performance” ended with a short email sent at 7.02pm on Friday. “After careful consideration, we are unable to approve your media credential request for this year’s event,” it said. “Due to the high volume of applications and limited media capacity, we could not accommodate all requests … thank you again for your interest and understanding.”

Admittedly, the rejection didn’t come entirely out of the blue. Unlike most sports organisations, the Enhanced Games had a pre-screening process which led to a nice PR man calling me a few days beforehand. His opening gambit? To point out the Guardian’s negativity towards the event (“Grotesque” – Barney Ronay; “Showcasing so much of the wrongness of the age” – Marina Hyde; “Competitors run the risk of their libido being ‘killed off’, leading experts have warned” – Sean Ingle).

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