The Enhanced Games, a controversial new competition allowing performance-enhancing drugs, has suffered a major blow. UK sporting bodies have collectively refused to recognise any world records set at the event. The decision, coordinated by UK Sport and the British Olympic Association, was quietly confirmed late last night. It is a stinging rejection of the Games’ founder, Aron D’Souza, who had hoped for a foothold in British athletics.
The Enhanced Games, often dubbed the ‘drugs Olympics’, had boasted a cash prize of £1 million for any athlete breaking a world record in their divisions. But without official ratification, those records are meaningless. One senior UK Sport official told me: ‘We will not be party to a circus. This is about protecting the integrity of clean sport.’ The sentiment was echoed by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), which stated the Games ‘undermine years of clean sport efforts’.
This is not a unilateral move. The International Olympic Committee has also distanced itself, and World Athletics is expected to follow suit. D’Souza’s attempts to court British athletes have been met with stone-cold indifference from the establishment. The timing is critical: the Paris 2024 Olympics are months away, and the Enhanced Games had planned to exploit any discontent within the athletics community. That plan has failed.
The refusal is a rare moment of unity among UK sporting bodies, which are often at loggerheads. It shows the depth of their anxiety about the Enhanced Games’ potential to corrupt the next generation. This is a political blow to D’Souza, who had privately boasted of ‘backdoor support’ from within British sport. If that support existed, it has now evaporated.
What happens next? The Enhanced Games will go ahead, but without legitimacy. Their records will be treated like those of a strongman contest: fun, but not official. Athletes considering participation face a stark choice: a quick cash grab or a career in legitimate sport. For now, the establishment has drawn a line in the sand.
