The Enhanced Games have just garnered significant economic and political support. 1789 Capital, a fund dedicated to "anti-woke" companies in which Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of the US president, has been a partner since the end of 2024, has invested "several million dollars" in the controversial project. While the precise amount of this participation remains secret, the Enhanced Games organizers were quick to publicize it on their internet site on Thursday, February 13, with a video proclaiming that "in [Donald] Trump's America, the impossible is what we do best."
The principle behind the Enhanced Games, unveiled in 2023 by Australian law expert and businessman Aron D'Souza, is simple: organize a sporting competition where participants are allowed to use banned substances to achieve unprecedented performances. "This is about excellence, innovation and American dominance on the world stage – something the MAGA [Make America Great Again] movement is all about," said Trump Jr, in remarks published on the Enhanced Games website.
"We're in an age of disruptors, and disruptors are in the White House," D'Souza argued to the Associated Press. "There are people like Elon Musk front and center in the [US] administration, and I think this is where new ideas front and center can come to be." His controversial project, which he defends against criticism of it being nothing more than a doping show, is also backed by libertarian Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, close to the US president and a follower of transhumanist ideologies.
The first edition of the Enhanced Games could be held by the end of the year or early 2026 in the US, according to US media outlet Sportico. Organizers have already identified 17 potential host cities, with events in athletics, swimming, gymnastics, weightlifting and martial arts. Criticizing the low prize money and "corrupt bureaucracy" of the Olympic system, D'Souza has offered $1 million to the first sprinter to break the 100-meter record, held by Jamaican Usain Bolt (9 sec 58), and the swimmer to beat Brazil's César Cielo in the 50-meter freestyle (20 sec 91). Athletes would also receive a participation bonus. As the competition is not subject to the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), performances achieved at the Enhanced Games would obviously not be validated.
In May 2024, D'Souza had stated that "between 50 and 100 athletes," then about to take part in the Paris Games, were in the process of registering for the Enhanced Games. A few months earlier, Australian James Magnussen, 33, 100 m freestyle world champion in 2011 and 2013, retired from the pools since 2018, had been the first athlete to announce his willingness to take part in these Enhanced Games.
Naturally, the International Olympic Committee and WADA are not happy about this. "If you want to destroy any concept of fair play and fair competition in sport, this would be a good way to do it," reacted the Lausanne-based body when the project was announced. The anti-doping watchdog condemned the concept as "dangerous and irresponsible."
Trump Jr's investment in the Enhanced Games, through 1789 Capital, comes at a time when WADA is under heavy criticism across the US: In early January, the US Office of National Drug Control Policy announced that it was withholding, for the time being, the $3.6 million (€3.43 million) theoretically allocated to WADA for last year. The origin of the dispute? The revelations of the New York Times and the German channel ARD concerning 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, but who had not been suspended or sanctioned by the body.
Since his return to the White House on January 20, Trump has taken an interest in sport. He was the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, the American football championship final, on February 9, signed an executive order preventing transgender people from competing in women's categories and came to the aid of the PGA Tour, the leading men's professional golf circuit, to bring negotiations with Saudi backers of the breakaway LIV Golf circuit to a successful conclusion.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.