Tech billionaires like to paint themselves as contrarian geniuses—guys (pretty much always guys) who see institutions insist that things should be done one way because of silly things like evidence and experience and respond, “I, a person who has zero knowledge or exposure to this thing, know better.” There is perhaps no starker illustration of this mindset than the “Enhanced Games,” an Olympics-like competition with Peter Thiel’s backing that sets aside bans on performance-enhancing drugs and encourages competitors to inject themselves in whatever will make them the best version of themselves. According to a new report from Wired, things are not going quite as planned.
To be clear, the Enhanced Games do appear to be happening. They’re scheduled for May 2026 in Las Vegas, a handful of athletes are on board, and there is funding from the likes of Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital. But behind the scenes, it seems like things have been a bit of a mess.
For example, to promote the games, founder Aron D’Souza put up $1 million for any “enhanced” athlete (read: taking drugs that are banned from other official competitions) to beat the swimming world records for the 100-meter sprint or the 50-meter freestyle. Kristian Gkolomeev, a 31-year-old Olympian from Bulgaria, achieved that goal…but he wasn’t the horse that the Enhanced movement initially backed.
Australian swimmer James Magnussen was supposed to be the poster boy for the games, moving to California to undergo a doping regimen that had him hopped up on testosterone and growth hormones to train his way to a world record. According to Wired, Magnussen actually ended up getting too buff, his muscle mass weighing him down and bulking him up so much that when they gave him his swimsuit—a full-body polyurethane “supersuit” that has been banned from Olympic competition—he ripped it. When he finally got in the water to put the enhanced approach to the test, he posted a time that was 1.2 seconds slower than his own personal best from when he was swimming clean.
Gkolomeev joined the “Enhanced” challenge late, but benefited from a toned-down regimen that made Magnussen too big. He ultimately did set a new world record, though when he tried to replicate it weeks later, after more time on the doping program and his body undergoing more changes, he finished with a slower time. Wired asked both the swimmer and his trainer if he could have beaten the world record without drugs, and both concluded he probably could have. Ah well!
D’Souza—perhaps best known as the guy who led Thiel’s litigation against Gawker—seems to be a true believer in the whole “Enhanced” (read: drugged-up) human movement, and he seems confused as to why no one else gets it. Per Wired, part of the reason he launched his competition was because he had dinner with members of the International Olympic Committee and found them to display “unimpressive” intellect.
But it seems the further the project goes, the more D’Souza and company realize there might be standards in place for a reason. He’s already backed down from a drug-fueled free-for-all to restricting participating athletes to using drugs that are legal in their home country and prescribed to them by a doctor, and they have to undergo strict monitoring to make sure their bodies are responding well to doping.
Meanwhile, the real motive behind the “Enhanced” movement appears to be simple: it’s a scheme to sell supplements and sports drinks, a giant market with extremely high margins. Wired reported that D’Souza announced Enhanced Performance Products alongside the upcoming Enhanced Games. Someone should tell him it’d be cheaper to just start a podcast.