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Where’s the thrill in the Enhanced Games? (sports) - C C - Feb 5, 2026
So like students and authors using AI to write, use of performance-enhancing drugs is ubiquitous now. Lance Armstrong's "wrong" in retrospect is that he did his thing too early. Albeit, if it had been today, his rivals would be doing the same, ergo no advantage in the end.
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Where’s the thrill in the Enhanced Games?
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/wheres-the-thrill-in-the-enhanced-games
EXCERPT: Aesthetic disappointments notwithstanding, the Enhanced Games crew makes some reasonable arguments on the games’ behalf. A linked 2018 paper published in the journal Sports Medicine concludes that “Doping appears remarkably widespread among elite athletes, and remains largely unchecked despite current biological testing.”
This tracks with a general anecdotal consensus: at various times, in various sports, widespread doping has been an open secret (until, as with Lance Armstrong’s downfall, a particular case blows up). Whereas: “At Enhanced, we provide transparency in elite competitions by embracing these realities and providing a safer way forward. The Enhanced Games permits the use of performance enhancements, ensuring our competitions are fairer and safer for our athletes.”
A failure to adequately enforce compliance with standards, even a longstanding pattern of failed enforcement, does not necessarily obviate the standards themselves. Likewise, the reasonable suspicions immediately raised in the minds of anyone reading the headline “New VC-Backed Steroid-Enhanced Games Are Safe, Website Assures” cannot speak to the basic legitimacy or illegitimacy of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
But the argument that creating a venue for doping to occur openly and within agreed-upon limits will help reform the system — both purifying mainstream competition and better safeguarding the welfare of athletes determined to juice — is at least initially minimally plausible. It is similar to the arguments for cannabis dispensaries. Take that as you will.
It is not really as a reform measure or concession, though, that the Enhanced founders are marketing the games. It is, instead, as a triumphant achievement, as the brilliant and courageous discovery and conquest of new frontiers: “At Enhanced, we are pioneering a new era in athletic competition that embraces scientific advancements to push the boundaries of human performance.”
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