Enhanced Games Say They’ll Fund Lawsuits for Clean Athletes Who Participate

Correction: an earlier version of this article misattributed the comment to Peter Thiel.

Enhanced Games founder Aron D’Souza has pledged to cover the legal fees for any clean athletes who participate in the Games and are then banned from mainstream competition.

The announcement came in response to World Aquatics’ new bylaw that threatens to bar anybody who “supports, endorses, or participates” in events like the Enhanced Games, without specifically naming the organization.

The bylaw says that the only avenue for appeal is to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, though the nature of that proclamation could also be challenged in outside court.

D’Souza, an Australian based in London, says that “we will support any natural or enhanced athlete denied the option to make this choice – both by providing them with an opportunity to compete and win – or by providing legal support against World Aquatics in the case of any challenge.”

Among his backers is Peter Thiel, who made billions as a co-founder of PayPal and early investor of Facebook, is infamous for funding lawsuits against his enemies. He effectively put the celebrity gossip website Gawker out of business by funding others’ lawsuits against the company and its staff after it published information about his sexuality without his consent.

He is now the lead funder of the Enhanced Games, which will hold its first event in Las Vegas next year.

The Enhanced Games and D’Souza fought back against the World Aquatics policy, calling it a “monopoly” and saying it used “bullying tactics.”

The competition will allow athletes to use substances banned as performance enhancing under the World Anti-Doping Code, and is planning an inaugural schedule of abbreviated swimming, track, and weightlifting competitions.

Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev became the first athlete to claim a $1 million prize under the program for clearing the non-enhanced World Record in the 50 free. He also wore a polyurethane suit that is now outlawed in AQUA competition, but from 2008 to 2009 was responsible for the densest World Record run in swimming history.

The Enhanced Games has confirmed to SwimSwam that clean athletes who are still compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code would be allowed to compete in their events, though the new World Aquatics rules would seemingly bar them from major international competition anyway.

While Gkolomeev’s 20.89 is faster than the AQUA World Record, it is not significantly faster than the 21.06 that Australian Cam McEvoy, who has already spoken out against the event, swam at the 2023 World Championships. With the benefit of the now-outlawed polyurethane suits, it is conceivable that a top clean athlete could clear the AQUA World Record in a polyurethane suit but without using banned substances and claim the significant prizes at stake.

The Enhanced Games will have competitions in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly in swimming, along with the 100m sprint, 110m hurdles in track and two weightlifting disciplines.

World Aquatics says that its association clause will be decided on a case-by-case basis; so far, the exact application of that policy has not been tested.