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While the doping-friendly event does not seem keen on journalistic interrogation, here’s what needs to be asked
he plan to fly to Las Vegas to cover what the Enhanced Games claims is the “next frontier of human performance” ended with a short email sent at 7.02pm on Friday.
“After careful consideration, we are unable to approve your media credential request for this year’s event,” it said. “Due to the high volume of applications and limited media capacity, we could not accommodate all requests … thank you again for your interest and understanding. ” Admittedly, the rejection didn’t come entirely out of the blue. Unlike most sports organisations, the Enhanced Games had a pre-screening process which led to a nice PR man calling me a few days beforehand.
His opening gambit? To point out the Guardian’s negativity towards the event to win a race, and $1m to break the world record, out of hand. But a journalist’s instinct is to go where the action is, to hear the athletes’ stories, to ask the difficult questions.
Most of all, I wanted to discover in person how much an organisation that violates so many of the values of traditional sport can really be trusted. The first question I would have asked? What about the basics? Are the tracks legal, the timing devices reputable, the officials pulled off the streets?
And will there be any other funny business? In 2016 Justin Gatlin ran the 100m in 9.45sec on the Japanese TV show Kasupe! But nobody claimed he had broken Usain Bolt’s world record, because he was aided by a 20mph tailwind from a giant fan. Question two.
You claim that the athletes are leaving “the old system behind for a new era of honesty and science”. But do you really believe that steroids, human growth hormone and EPO are safe? I ask because I spoke to Prof Ian Broadley and his colleague Martin Chandler, from the University of Birmingham, who specialise in performance-enhancing drug research.
They told me claims banned drugs can be made safer if taken under medical supervision are They added: “We are also now starting to see some serious long-term effects from steroid use in the research. Things like reproductive function or libido just being killed off with no real clear understanding of why. ” Question three. Can athletes sue the Enhanced Games?
This is not a purely theoretical question. In 2005 the Guardian reported that 190 former East German athletes had launched a case against the German pharmaceutical company Jenapharm and said that steroids had caused infertility among women, embarrassing hair growth, breast cancer, heart problems and testicular cancer. What is to stop the current crop doing the same in 20 years’ time? Question four, to the athletes.
Many of you have stressed the benefits of taking banned drugs. But have you experienced any side-effects? Question five. I spoke to one former international athlete, who said you are a dangerous influence on kids because they would be attempting to follow in your footsteps.
What is your response? Question six, to Ben Proud. What were you thinking when the first needle went into your vein, and you went from clean athlete to pariah? And while we are here, one for Sam Quek, who won hockey gold for Team GB at Rio 2016 and is now an Enhanced Games commentator: was the TV fee worth it?
Question seven. Will there be drug testing at the Enhanced Games? It sounds like a stupid question. But you say only FDA-approved substances are permitted, so what happens to those who cheat your rules?
Question eight. The Enhanced Games also claims that “the future of the human body has arrived – faster, stronger, and enhanced”. But your swimmers will also be wearing banned supersuits, which decrease drag and increase buoyancy and studies suggest improved performance by 1.5% to 3.5%. So how much of it is the body?
And how much is the suit? Question nine. You say your “new model could change sport forever”. But we have already seen what happens when an Enhanced Games athlete breaks a world record … nothing.
Last year Kristian Gkolomeev swam the world’s fastest 50m freestyle time, aided by drugs and a supersuit, and no one batted an eyelid. Finally, what next? Enhanced Games organisers have suggested the event could become like Formula One for the biotech industry, with drug companies pumping top athletes full of their latest drugs. Do you really believe that?
Personally, I believe such talk is nonsense. But I don’t dismiss the Enhanced Games out of hand. I spoke to one person in the health-tech space, who has dealt with its founders, and he pointed out they are smart people and billionaires who tend to get what they want. While they won’t change sport much, they will claim something that has infinitely more value to them: a bigger chunk of the growing anti-ageing market.
In the future, don’t be surprised if you see adverts for peptides with names that sound like distant planets: CJC-1295, Ipamorelin, Thymosin Alpha-1, TB-4, GHRP-2/6, Kisspeptin-10, Semax and Selank. Because we now live in a world that isn’t just about faster, stronger, higher, but living longer too. And that is something the Enhanced Games knows better than most. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article?
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