The Enhanced Games, held in Las Vegas, demonstrated that doping in sports does not guarantee success, as only one world record was broken, and it was due to a wetsuit, not performance-enhancing drugs. The event underscored the importance of natural ability and genetics in elite sports, highlighting that while drugs can enhance existing talent, they cannot create greatness from scratch. Picture: Picture: BRYAN STEFFY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP/ Google Gemini
Image: BRYAN STEFFY / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP/ Google Gemini
Whether the Enhanced Games was a success depends on which way you look at it, but one thing stood out - doping in sport does not guarantee success.
The inaugural Enhanced Games was held in Las Vegas in mid-May with 16 events on display across athletics, swimming, and weightlifting.
It was supposed to be a chance for athletes, through the help of performance-enhancing drugs, to see how many world records would come crashing down.
However, only one world record was bettered (it won’t count, of course) by Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece, who set a new world record in the men’s 50m freestyle. His performance advantage was a wetsuit, which has been outlawed by World Aquatics.
The majority of the events, though, failed to produce any world-class performances.
And therein lies the crux of the matter - doping won’t turn an average sportsperson into a world beater.
If someone like Akani Simbine, who has a personal best of 9.82s in the 100m, which is the SA national record, it may make a slight difference.
Whether he could run faster than the 9.58 world record set by Jamaican Usain Bolt is debatable, but probably not.
Doping, and primarily testosterone-boosting medication, builds on an athlete’s natural potential - but unless you’re extremely close to a world-beater, it won’t make much of a difference.
How much doping makes a difference, or how much competitive advantage it yields, is a bit of a grey area.
A case in point is Caster Semenya. The two-time women’s 800m Olympic champion was effectively barred from competing by World Athletics (WA) as an athlete with a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD).
DSD athletes have naturally high levels of testosterone and have been banned from competing in athletics events from 400m to the mile since 2018. Earlier this year, World Athletics (WA) extended that ban to all track and field events.
Semenya could be said to have a genetic advantage over other women’s 800m runners in that she has naturally higher testosterone levels — the same thing dopers aim to achieve. The difference, though, was that Semenya did not break any rules to achieve this; it was simply how she was born. The fact that she became a world-class runner was coincidental and certainly not a deliberate attempt to break the rules.
Ultimately, though, her genetic advantage and the new rules created by WA cut her career short.
Therefore, while the Enhanced Games may have been designed to challenge the anti-doping movement, it instead reinforced why elite sport is still so dependent on natural ability.
Performance-enhancing drugs can sharpen what is already there, but they cannot manufacture greatness out of nothing. The event also highlighted the uncomfortable reality at the centre of modern sport—athletes are celebrated for genetic advantages they are born with, yet punished when those advantages fall outside accepted boundaries.
In the end, the Enhanced Games did not prove that doping creates superhumans. If anything, it showed that talent, genetics, and years of dedication still matter far more than anything that can be injected into the body.