Athletes have arrived in Abu Dhabi to begin testing for one of the world’s most controversial sporting events, three months before the beginning of the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas.
So far, 37 swimmers, runners and powerlifters have signed up to be put through their paces by coaches and doctors who will give them performance enhancing drugs in an effort to reach new levels of endurance and achievement.
The games divide opinion. While some say they shine light into the darkest corners of professional sport, others claim they have thrown a lifeline to athletes struggling financially and offer valuable health data.
Brett Hawke competed for Australia in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, served as head coach for the Bahamas in 2012 and assistant for Brazil in 2008 and 2016. Now, swimming team head coach for Enhanced, Mr Hawke said he was excited about the “experiment”.
“The possibilities are somewhat endless,” said Mr Hawke, a fully registered US swimming coach.
“It’s a new endeavour, exciting. That's why the athletes are in this. Some of them have reached their peak, and can now look beyond what they've reached in the past.”
Mr Hawke said tenths of a second would probably be shaved off personal bests, rather than seconds, with British Olympic silver medallist Ben Proud most likely in the 50 metre freestyle.
“I think certainly there's an expectation some records will be broken,” he said. “I'm hoping for personal best times. If you're looking at Ben Proud, I think he has legitimate chances to break world records. He's very close already, so I think he has a great shot.”
Physical test
Athletes are being physically and mentally assessed at Erth in Abu Dhabi to understand personal requirements, and how they may benefit from certain drugs.
Athletes will only be offered medications that are legal and fully tested. Financial gains have been a significant draw, with $1 million on offer for a new world record, and a $500,000 purse for individual events.
Irish swimmer Shane Ryan, 32, has competed at three Olympics and claimed bronze at the 2018 European Championships. He said Enhanced was a great opportunity to secure his financial future.
“We're getting some backlash because people are afraid of what we're doing because it's new,” he told The National.
“We're pushing the boundaries of science, and stigma around performance enhancing drugs. I’ve always been a big believer; if you're competing for the Olympic Games, you have to compete clean and I’ve been tested multiple times.
“I'm trying to earn myself some money because I'm playing catch up. As one of the best Irish athletes, I was on €18,000 living in Dublin, trying to win a world medal as the fifth fastest in history in the 50m backstroke.
“I'm getting more recognition now for my decision as a retired athlete than I did my whole career.”
Mr Ryan said he was looking at the possibility of taking testosterone and human growth hormones.
He is already prescribed Adderall, a drug to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, a drug banned under current world anti-doping rules without a therapeutic use exemption.
“I'm excited to get back on that because you couldn't even have that in Europe,” he said.
“I'm definitely going to be enhanced for sure. We’re going to sit down with the doctors and see what's right for my blood type.”
Mass disrupter
The Enhanced Games are more than a disruptive influence that threatens to eat up a slice of advertising revenue once ring-fenced for Olympic competition.
In June, Witold Banka, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, called the notion abhorrent with the potential to normalise dangerous drugs in sport.
In 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine (TMZ) months before the Tokyo Olympics.
Later, they were cleared by Wada to compete at the Games after claiming samples were contaminated. China went on to win six swimming medals in Tokyo, including three golds.
Another swimmer taking part is Bulgarian 200 metre butterfly specialist Antani Ivanov, 26, the first Bulgarian to make a World Championship final in a decade, and who qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
After missing a routine drug test, he was handed a two-year suspension due to a whereabouts violation, later extended to June 2027 for criticising swimming authorities.
An athlete is guilty of a whereabouts violation when they do not comply with anti-doping rules that require them to be available for testing.
“This has been a painful journey,” Mr Ivanov said. “My career was cut short by different institutions that wanted me gone from the sport.
“I always wanted to finish my career when I wanted it to end, not when other people decided. I’ve never ever had a positive test in my life, and more than 200 negative tests.”
Mr Ivanov said he had never doped but was an outspoken critic of the Bulgarian Swimming Federation, supporting statements by three other Bulgarian swimmers who claimed they had been given pills by coaches.
His ban was then extended, ruling him out of the Paris Games and forcing him into retirement and seeking work in real estate.
'Life changing'
Mr Ivanov, who has no plans to take any drugs during the competition, said he was paid around €400 a month by Bulgarian swimming authorities, despite being one of the nation’s hottest prospects in the pool.
Contractually obliged not to reveal his current salary with Enhanced, he described it as “life changing”.
“I wanted to continue my career – now I have a contract to compete in this season of the Enhanced Games,” he said. “I want to prove to those people I've always played by the rules. Enhanced is giving us the opportunity for everyone to be equal.
“As a Bulgarian, we don't have the same facilities, coaches, doctors or salaries as the Americans or Australians. This is a brave new world of performance enhancing competition.”
A 10-member independent medical commission will oversee medications offered to athletes during their time in Abu Dhabi.
They will be closely monitored by doctors and regularly tested at Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City as part of an approved clinical health study.
“My role is to make sure athletes stay healthy and are prepared to perform at their best for a personal record or world record,” said Dan Turner, director of safety and performance at the Enhanced Games.
“The health data we collect will be reviewed by experts, to understand their unique body function, their sport and personal goals.
“We often think about yellow eyes and bulging hearts with use of these substances, but this is substances from impure sources, used without medical supervision or in high doses over long periods of time.
“I've worked with Olympic athletes for many years, I’d like to see athletes have a choice to compete in different games and different competitions.
“Unfortunately, it's very difficult to regulate cheating, because it's so hard to detect.”
