- Aron D'Souza, the CEO of the Enhanced Games, said it will see 50-year-olds beat world records.
- He said the Peter Thiel-backed venture wants to "create a new kind of humanity."
The CEO of the Enhanced Games said the competitive sporting event, dubbed the "Olympics on steroids" by some, will witness older athletes shattering world records.
But Aron D'Souza cautioned in an interview with Business Insider that one meth-induced heart attack could "destroy the whole thing."
In a Zoom call, D'Souza described the Peter Thiel-backed venture as an "effort to create a new kind of humanity."
The planned international sporting event will defy World Anti-Doping Agency rules by not requiring drug testing, and by endorsing the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
D'Souza compared the advent of the Enhanced Games to the boom in popularity of AI, which he said was once dismissed as "science fiction" and only felt real when people started using ChatGPT for the first time.
"In the same way, transhumanism, the idea that we can become superhuman, and antiaging is a part of that, has all these academic debates," he said.
"But when we see a 40-year-old break a world record, a 50-year-old break a world record at the Enhanced Games, then the world will say, 'Oh, science is real," he said, adding: "Transhumanism is here. It's not, you know, Robocop and Gattaca.'"
D'Souza said record-breaking sporting feats would make the Enhanced Games "the dominant sporting event in the world."
But while expressing optimism about the Games's future, D'Souza said it could all come crashing down if there was just one major, drug-induced health emergency.
"If someone shows up on meth and has a heart attack, they're gonna say, 'Well, No. 1, at the first Games, if someone has a heart attack, that's going to destroy the whole thing, right?'"
If that happened it would prove that the Games cannot be done safely, he said.
D'Souza told BI that only FDA-approved compounds administered under clinic supervision will be allowed at the Games.
However, because of a commitment to the "right to healthcare privacy," athletes won't be tested for drugs, and also won't need to say which drugs they are on.
Asked if an athlete would be disqualified if it became known they were taking Schedule I drugs, like heroin, or Schedule II drugs like cocaine or meth, D'Souza refused to provide a definitive answer.
He said his clinical team was developing protocols for the event, which is meant to take place for the first time next year.
D'Souza also said that the Enhanced Games would try to push back against rule-breaking with financial incentives, like base salaries and health insurance.
"Creating the right set of financial incentive structures will reduce that risk profile," D'Souza told BI.
He added: "It's just not going to work if we can't prove that we can do this safely."
The Enhanced Games had its first athlete sign up last month, a retired Australian swimmer who publicly agreed to "juice to the gills" for the chance at a $1 million prize for beating a swimming world record.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has described the Games as "a dangerous and irresponsible concept," which it said could put the lives of athletes at risk, per Reuters.
World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe said during a press conference on February 29 that the Enhanced Games were "nonsense," adding that it would be "moronic" for athletes to participate and that they would face a lengthy ban.
In a response to Coe's comments, the Enhanced Games said in a statement provided to BI that it showed that it had "hit a nerve."
The statement added: "Lord Coe represents the analogue era of sports, which cherished the purity of the Game. We understand and respect that. But the Enhanced Games represents something new — the union of sports and science."