Inside the 'Steroid Olypmics' where performance-enhancing drugs are allowed
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
This weekend, the 2026 Enhanced Games officially kicks off at Resorts World Las Vegas, bringing together 40+ elite athletes with one thing in common: they are all allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs during competition.
The inaugural event, defined as a ‘new global sports competition designed to push the boundaries of human performance’, will feature: Reece Prescod, a retired British sprinter who appeared at the 2020 Summer Olympics; James Magnussen, who holds the record for the fifth fastest swim in history in the 100-metre freestyle; Team USA swimmer Megan Romano; and multiple-time Pan American Games finalist, Isabella Arcila of Colombia, among other sports stars.
2,500 invite-only spectators will pile into a custom-built competition complex in Las Vegas to watch the 42 professionals compete in eight different events across four disciplines in the hopes of earning a six-figure prize pot.
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These are swimming (50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly), weightlifting (snatch, clean and jerk), track and field (100m) and strongman (deadlift).
German venture capitalist Christian Angermayer, who is Enhanced's co-founder, largest shareholder, has said that the games will allows fans to ‘observe the tangible results Enhanced Group's athletes achieve and seek to apply those enhancements to their own lives’.
Sky Sports reported that there is a $25 million prize pot available across the two-day event.
Swimmers are set to take home $1m for their efforts in Las Vegas if they ‘break’ existing legal world records in the 50m freestyle.
Those taking part in the 100m sprint can also expect to recieve $1m if they smash records.
Every event will see the winner walking home with $250,000 of a $500,000 prize pool, The Guardian reported.
Almost all of the athletes competing at the so-called ‘steroid Olympics’ will be using some kind of substance banned by officials in competitions.
However, the drugs, such as testosterone and anabolics must be approved by America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Apparently, 91 percent of the participants are using testosterone or testosterone esters for the 2026 event.
Hormones and growth factors like EPO and metabolic modulators are on the list.
The Enhanced Games said that 79 percent of competitors are using human growth hormones, 62 percent are on stimulants, half have used metabolic modulators, and 41 percent used erythropoietin, as per the BBC.
Adderall, a prescription central nervous system (CNS) stimulant used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, is also on the approved list of drugs.
Angermayer has openly admitted to be following an 'enhanced regime' himself, including Ozempic for weight control - referring to the medicine as 'the first widely used enhancement drug'.
"I am happy to ‘confess’ that I take Ozempic myself, because it makes managing my weight much easier - and I think I’m far from being clinically obese," he wrote on Substack.
"And I know I am not alone. A recent poll found that nearly half of US adults (45%) say they would generally be interested in taking a safe and effective prescription weight loss drug, including nearly 6 in 10 (59%) of those who are currently trying to lose weight and half (51%) of those who are trying to lose fewer than 10 pounds."
Hunter Armstrong of the USA and Tristan Evelyn from Barbados are the only two sportspeople who are not taking any kind of performance-enhancing drug.
37 of the 42 athletes have been involved in an International Review Board (IRB) trial in Abu Dhabi from January to May, as per The Enhanced Games.
These competitors have had health professionals monitoring the substances being used and their health.
Meanwhile, American swimmer Cody Miller and weightlifters Wes Kitts and Dylan Cooper have been enhancing with private approved doctors outside the trial, as per The Guardian.
Wada, the World Anti Doping Agency, has called The Enhanced Games a ‘dangerous and irresponsible concept’ while slamming organisers for ‘promoting the use of powerful substances and methods by athletes’.
“Over the years, there have been many examples of athletes suffering serious long-term side-effects from their use of prohibited substances and methods. Some have died,” a spokesperson added, as per The Guardian.
You can stream The Enhanced Games on Rakuten TV in the UK.