Testosterone, anabolic steroids, stimulants, metabolic modulators and a grabbag of peptides were just some elements of the “stacks” that these athletes took ahead of the event. In any other sporting context, it would have resulted in disqualification and a lengthy (if not lifetime) ban. But at the Enhanced Games, it was almost a prerequisite.
These competitors were, after all, sporting outcasts. Many were rejects, drug cheats and also-rans. Few had a pathway back into disciplines they had devoted their whole lives to. Now, they were effectively sealing their fate by competing in a tournament dismissed as a “clown show” by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and “dangerous and irresponsible” by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The athletes are running, swimming and lifting advertisements for the supplements, longevity treatments and specialized regimens promoted on the event’s website. But if they were meant to be an ad for a better, faster, stronger tomorrow, the performances suggest there is some way to go. Just a single world record broken, but three unenhanced athletes won their events.
If these results were meant to serve as a rebuke to the old sporting system, then the event was a failure.
