Enhanced Games founder and president Aron D'Souza (inset) says New Zealand athletes have applied to be part of his pro-steroids event. Herald composite photograph.
How far can we push human performance with drugs? Doped-up athletes will be battling it out for million-dollar prize money at the inaugural Enhanced Games next year. Neil Reid interviewed the games’ proud boss - as sports officials here slam the initiative as dangerous.
Four-time Greek Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev proudly states on his Instagram account he is the “fastest swimmer in history”.
In theory he is right; earlier this year he swam the 50m freestyle 0.02 seconds faster than the official world record.
But it is an achievement not recognised by World Aquatics; having been completed while the 32-year-old was undergoing a two-month cycle of performance-enhancing drugs.
It was a swim to promote the Enhanced Games; a steroid-friendly event to launch next year, where record-breaking performances will result in paydays topping $1 million.
The Enhanced Games will make its debut in Las Vegas in May 2026, with event organisers confirming to the Herald they are considering some Kiwi contenders.
Opponents - including sports bodies and anti-doping agencies - claim the health of competitors could be at risk, with the BBC labelling the event the ‘Doping Games’.
But organisers of the Enhanced Games – whose financial backers include American billionaire Peter Thiel, a New Zealand citizen - say the safety of its athletes is a top priority.
Talking to the Herald, Enhanced Games president and co-founder Aron D’Souza said a number of New Zealand sportspeople had indicated they were keen to compete at the games, which will include track and field, swimming and weightlifting events.
“We’ve seen a ton of interest from all over the world, and that definitely includes New Zealand,” he said.
“It’s not a small number either—we’ve had hundreds of athletes reach out to us, including Kiwis, who are all keen to be part of the inaugural Enhanced Games.
“When we have official news on any athletes from New Zealand who have signed on, you can be sure we’ll make an announcement.”
Those who break world records – marks that won’t be recognised by sporting bodies – will receive US$250,000 (NZ$420,000) bonuses.
Anyone who breaks the 50m swimming freestyle or 100m sprint world record will receive US$1 million (NZ$1.6m).
All competitors will also receive unspecified “top-tier appearance fees”.
Confirmed high-profile recruits so far include American four-time world champion swimmer Megan Romano and Australian swimming star James Magnussen; another former world champion and Olympic medal winner.
Earlier this year Gkolomeev was paid $1.6m by Enhanced Games officials after swimming faster than the 50m freestyle record - set in 2009.
The sports doping programme that prepared him for the feat saw him put on 10kg of muscle mass during a two-month period.
D’Souza said it was proof doping enabled athletes to be paid what they are worth.
“In his entire career in traditional swimming, he earned maybe $200,000 (NZ$335,000). He gave his all, but was never properly compensated,” D’Souza said.
“With the Enhanced Games, by unlocking his full potential and breaking the world record, he garnered life-changing money for his family. He went from struggling to make ends meet to having financial security.”
D’Souza said the Enhanced Games would also provide a “level-playing field” - in the sense all competitors could take performance-enhancing drugs including a range of steroids, growth hormone and testosterone; all banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
Those behind the Enhanced Games say trying to keep sports clean doesn’t work and some athletes excel in Wada-sanctioned sport by cheating the drug testing system.
“We are putting an end to that hypocrisy.”
D’Souza sees the games as providing a safe space for athletes to push the limits of human performance “in a safe, scientifically-backed environment”.
That will include a medical and scientific team made up of 12 doctors and professors, he said.
Every competitor will undergo blood, urine and cardiac testing before and during their performance-enhancing drug programmes in a bid to ensure they are safe to compete, he said.
Other financial backers include 1789 Capital; the investment fund whose owners include Donald Trump Jr.
The US President’s son has said of the Enhanced Games: “This is about excellence, innovation, and American dominance on the world stage - something the MAGA movement is all about.”
The competition has been roundly slammed by sporting bodies and anti-doping agencies around the world, and in New Zealand.
That includes the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui. One of its roles is combating doping in sport and has called the games “dangerous”.
Dr David Gerrard - a former Olympic swimmer and Emeritus Professor at Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago - has described the event as “ridiculous” and questioned the ethics of everyone involved.
Commission board chair Don Mackinnon believes it will jeopardise athlete health while eroding the values of fair play and integrity.
“The Enhanced Games exploits athletes by putting their health and careers at risk for the sake of purported entertainment and financial gain,” Mackinnon said.
“Doping in sport is never acceptable and we condemn any activities that undermine the safety and fairness of sport.”
Mackinnon added the commission has joined Wada and other anti-doping and sports bodies in “standing for clean sport, athlete health and the integrity of international competition”.
Gerrard - who swam for New Zealand at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won two medals at the 1964 Commonwealth Games - said the event “ran in the face of clinical medicine”.
“The ethos of these Enhanced Games is exactly what I have been working against for 30 years in my time in anti-doping,” he said.
He said the use of drugs - such as EPO which increases stamina, growth hormone and steroids - to improve sporting performance provided an “ethical dilemma”.
Some of the drugs were designed to be used by people battling leukemia and other life-threatening diseases and illnesses, he said.
“There is always going to be a risk and hazard in taking something not for its recommended use,” Gerrard - a hugely respected figure in New Zealand sport - said.
He said those who plan to administer drugs at the Enhanced Games “need to explore their own moral standards”.
Gerrard said if he was talking to a Kiwi hoping to compete, there, he would ask “Are you a failed athlete and is this your chance to prove yourself? - I would ask the blunt questions.”
But D’Souza says criticism of his games is “outdated, hypocritical thinking” and sportspeople should release themselves from traditional games that paid them poorly while profiting from their hard work.
“The Enhanced Games isn’t a threat to sport; it’s the overdue solution to a broken system” he said.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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