The Enhanced Games, a planned multi-sport event where doping is allowed, has received funding from high-profile, blue-chip investors, including the son of the United States President Donald Trump Jr.
1789 Capital, a venture capital firm headed by Omeed Malik, Chris Buskirk, and Trump Jr, has co-led a “multi-million-dollar” Series B round for the Enhanced Games. Other investors include heavyweights Karatage and Apeiron Investment Group.
Apeiron Investment Group is led by Christian Angermayer, who among other projects is a heavy investor in psychedelic drug industries.
While the Enhanced Games rarely mentions words like “steroids” and “doping,” they instead lean into the idea of “embracing science, innovation, and fairness,” with the latter idea being that doping runs rampant in traditional sports and clean athletes are put at a disadvantage.
Dr Aron D’Souza, President of the Enhanced Games, expressed his enthusiasm for the support: “With these powerhouse investors, we’re building something revolutionary – sports without hypocrisy, where the best can actually be the best. Our investors see the future, and they’re backing it with conviction.”
Donald Trump Jr., Partner at 1789 Capital, added: “For over 100 years, elites in charge of global sports have stifled innovation, crushed individual greatness, and refused to let athletes push the limits of what’s possible. That ends now. The Enhanced Games represent the future – real competition, real freedom, and real records being smashed. This is about excellence, innovation, and American dominance on the world stage – something the MAGA movement is all about. The Enhanced Games are going to be huge, and I couldn’t be prouder to support this movement that is changing sports forever.”
The moves comes after Trump Jr’s father, U.S. President Donald Trump, has had a mixed history with doping. In his first term, he signed into law a bill called the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act that allows U.S, justice officials to pursue criminal penalties against individuals involved in doping conspiracies at events that include American athletes, American sponsors, and American broadcasters.
Also in his first term, President Trump threatened to withdraw US contributions from WADA over what he viewed as an unfair distribution of power in the organization relative to its funding model.
The U.S. is currently in a battle with the global anti-doping watchdog, withholding a $3.6 million payment because of a feud between USADA and WADA over the latter’s handling of a Chinese doping case.
The Enhanced Games is led by Dr. Aron D’Souza and billionaire investor Peter Thiel. Last year, the group said that they were seeking to raise a total of $300 million to launch the first edition.
Among the carrots being offered to Enhanced Games participants include a $250,000 bonus for anybody who improves upon a non-Enhanced Games World Record, with a $1 million bonus specifically for breaking the 50 meter free World Record or 100m track World Record. All participants will receive financial compensation.
The Enhanced Games say they are targeting late 2025 or early 2026 for the first edition and are currently in a bidding process with potential host cities.
While the event so far is light on commitments from athletes in the peak of their careers, there are some high-profile names attached to it. From swimming, that includes South African Roland Schoeman, who was suspended for a positive doping test in 2019; Cayman’s Brett Fraser; and Australian James Magnussen, who has been documenting his training for the event.
Magnussen is a three-time Olympic medalist from the 2012 and 2016 Games, while Schoeman is a three-time Olympic Medalist from the 2004 Games and has set 8 World Aquatics World Records.
so these games just went from ew to ewww pls k*ll me
Its refreshing to see the comments and likes here. Swimming is still a “smart kids sport.”
The best outcome here would be for this to go off with no one coming close to an actual world record in any sport/event. Failure.
Will full-body suits be allowed? Seems like a great opportunity to have them in competition.
What an embarrassment to the sport of swimming.
I’m an Old Guy and I long for the return of the Superstars competitions. Great TV.
Hopefully Olympic hopefuls will gravitate towards this straight forward format.
Nothing has ever made more sense in the history of the universe.