WADA: Enhanced Games could tempt more young people into doping

The World Anti-Doping Agency has expressed concern that participants in the Enhanced Games may encourage more young people to use performance-enhancing drugs.

The warning comes ahead of Sunday’s controversial $50 million event in Las Vegas, which permits competitors to take banned substances and offers large cash prizes for winning races and breaking world records.

Organizers of the inaugural Enhanced Games, featuring track and field, swimming and weightlifting, have described it as “the future of sports and human performance.” High-profile athletes with world titles or Olympic medals scheduled to compete include U.S. sprinter Fred Kerley, British swimmer Ben Proud and Australian swimmer James Magnussen.

The global anti-doping body told the Guardian that the Enhanced Games “goes against everything Wada stands for” and accused the event of using elite athletes to market banned drugs and anti-aging products to individuals who may not fully understand the associated risks.

“Wada has consistently made its view clear that the Enhanced Games is a dangerous and irresponsible concept,” a spokesperson said. “Wada is concerned that events involving elite athletes that promote the use of PEDs could result in more people, including young people, being tempted to use PEDs. This obviously goes against everything Wada stands for.”

The Enhanced Games allows athletes to use substances prohibited in elite sport, including testosterone, EPO and human growth hormone, arguing they are safe under medical supervision and have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, Wada told the Guardian this is not accurate.

“Just because a drug is FDA-approved, which includes most of the substances on Wada’s prohibited list, it does not mean it can be taken risk-free,” a Wada spokesperson said. “These powerful drugs can cause serious harm – sometimes immediately, sometimes months or years later.”

“Steroids, for example, can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and liver damage. Human growth hormone can trigger diabetes, heart problems and abnormal growth in organs and bones. And taking exogenous testosterone can lead to an increased risk of hypertension, heart attack and blood clots, as well as infertility and testicular shrinkage, increased aggression, anxiety and depression.”

Wada also warned against “stacking” multiple drugs together to enhance performance, a practice some Enhanced Games athletes, including Canadian strongman Mitchell Hooper, have openly discussed. “The reality is that sports medicine still doesn’t fully understand the long-term consequences of stacking multiple substances together at the doses elite athletes might use to chase records,” the spokesperson said.