The global scientific community is watching with horror as an unregulated event, cynically dubbed the ‘Olympics with steroids’, draws international condemnation. This event, held in a clandestine location, permits unrestricted use of performance-enhancing drugs, masquerading as a celebration of human potential while systematically dismantling the athletes’ long-term health. As a climate and science correspondent, I am struck by the parallels with our broader ecological crisis: short-term gains at the cost of systemic collapse.
From a physiological standpoint, the cocktail of anabolic steroids, growth hormones, and stimulants used in this event creates a perfect storm for cardiovascular failure, liver damage, and psychiatric disorders. The athletes are effectively participating in a high-stakes experiment without ethical oversight. This is not sport; it is a macabre spectacle of pharmaceutical excess.
The condemnation from sports governing bodies and medical associations is unanimous. The World Anti-Doping Agency has labelled it a violation of fundamental human rights. Yet, the event persists, fuelled by a cultural appetite for extremes. The question is: what drives participants and spectators to ignore the irrefutable data on the harm? The answer lies in our own addiction to mastery over nature, whether through doping or fossil fuels. We rationalise the unsustainable because it offers temporary transcendence.
This ‘Mecca’ of unregulated enhancement is a microcosm of our planet’s trajectory. We are doping Earth’s atmosphere with carbon dioxide, accelerating biosphere collapse. The athletes’ health consequences are akin to the climate feedback loops we now face: once triggered, they are difficult to revert. The steroids cause irreversible organ damage; similarly, melting permafrost releases methane, amplifying warming.
Technological solutions exist, but we lack the collective will. In sport, we could invest in testing and ethical training. In climate, renewables and carbon capture. However, both require confronting our desire for unregulated expansion. Until we accept physical limits, we will continue to build arenas of destruction.
The condemnation is loud, but action remains muffled. We must translate outrage into policy, recognising that our bodies and our planet are not playgrounds for unchecked experimentation. The ‘Olympics with steroids’ should serve as a warning, not an entertainment.
