“Now I’m being taught how to do it the right way,” Ryan says. “And I’m being paid to do it.”
Ryan hopes Enhanced can pave the way for a separation of truly “clean” events and transparently juiced competitions. He even calls on events like the Olympics to increase testing strictness.
“What we’re doing is completely separate,” Ryan said during Friday’s media availability. “It’s marketing, it’s show business. And it should be separate.”
The financial argument and the idea of helping aging athletes prolong their careers make up the most compelling case I hear for Enhanced on its face—at least in terms of athletes’ motivations. But it’s the business side of the organization where some conflicts of interest become tougher to ignore.
Photograph: Etienne Laurent/Getty Images
Head to the products page of the Enhanced website and you’ll find what appears to be the organization’s spinoff of telehealth company Hims, but for PEDs. Products like copper peptides, sermorelin and testosterone injections are available alongside GLP-1s, semaglutide, and tadalafil.
Martin is open about the mission: To bring these products to the masses. He talks up required medical intake forms and regular check-ins with certified company doctors to avoid risks of mis- or over-use.
But if the Enhanced mission is successful, and PEDs become a bigger and more financially appealing part of sports, assuming these products will only be sought after and used in responsible ways is just as naïve as pretending doping hasn’t happened in the past at supposedly “clean” events. If anything, athletes in particularly disadvantaged financial situations might prioritize doping even more.
That’s where the dystopian feel bubbling below the surface becomes more palpable. There’s a distinctly MAHA undertone here, from investors like Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. to Enhanced Games founder Aron D’Souza describing RFK Jr. as “pro–human enhancement.”
While organizers wouldn’t give me any specifics on how much of Enhanced’s future will rely on product sales to fund prize pools and operations, it’s probably safe to assume investors like these will expect returns to remain involved.
It’s fair to wonder whether this is truly an attempt to remove stigmas and change sport. The overconfidence on display prior to the actual contests only drove home the feeling that this was more an elaborate money-making scheme than anything else.
So will the Enhanced Games usher in a new era of athletic capability and prowess? Maybe—at least if you can afford it.
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