World Anti-Doping Agency Condemn ‘Dangerous, Irresponsible’ Enhanced Games
The World Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday issued a statement condemning the Enhanced Games as “dangerous and irresponsible.”
From the organization’s statement:
WADA condemns the Enhanced Games as a dangerous and irresponsible concept. The health and well-being of athletes is WADA’s number-one priority. Clearly this event would jeopardize that as it seeks to promote the use of powerful substances and methods by athletes for the purposes of entertainment and marketing. Over the years, there have been many examples of athletes suffering serious long-term side-effects from their use of prohibited substances and methods. Some have died.
WADA highlighted the obvious, that participation in the Enhanced Games threatens athletes’ ability to compete in sporting events regulation by the World Anti-Doping Code, which is to say just about any elite or sanctioned competition. WADA says it is working with its athletes council to ensure that such risks are fully communicated to athletes.
“WADA also calls on all governments and law enforcement agencies to assess whether athletes who admit to taking performance-enhancing drugs – or the physicians who supply or administer those substances – may be in breach of criminal laws or professional rules, whether in their own countries or wherever the event takes place,” the statement continued. “The beauty and popularity of sport is based on the ideal of clean and fair competition. These values must be protected. Athletes serve as role models and WADA believes that this event sends a dangerous message to young people around the world.”
The United States Anti-Doping Agency last week published an explainer on the Enhanced Games, a new spectacle that allows (and encourages) competitors to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete for prize money and push the limits of speed and performance.
From the USADA statement:
Critics point out that the concept is not only legally questionable, but actually very dangerous to athletes’ health. Critics also note that the Enhanced Games sets a terrible example for young athletes around the world who will witness the glorification of a doping arms race rather than sport based on integrity, fairness, and determination.
The USADA’s statement places athlete health first, highlighting that many of the side effects of PEDs can take a long time horizon to manifest.
“While those behind the Enhanced Games might be looking to make a quick buck, that profit would come at the expense of kids across the world thinking they need to dope to chase their dreams,” Travis Tygart, CEO of USADA, said in a statement. “We desperately wish this investment was being made in the athletes who are currently training and competing the real and safe way. They are the role models this world so desperately needs and they are the ones who deserve our support – not some dangerous clown show that puts profit over principle.”
“The Enhanced Games diminishes sport to pure entertainment,” said Matt Fedoruk, USADA’s Chief Science Officer. “And that seems problematic when you think about the value sport brings to society and individuals. Sport is a journey. It’s something that’s supposed to be healthy and meaningful. There are rules put in place in order to try to make it fair.”
WADA’s Athletes Council released a separate statement opposing the Enhanced Games. From the statement:
We would like to put on the record that the AC is firmly opposed to the Enhanced Games and any event that promotes the use of performance-enhancing substances and methods. These Games represent a dangerous concept that ignores decades of medical evidence and the lived experiences of athletes harmed by doping. Such an event puts athlete safety at serious risk and fundamentally undermines the core values of sport. To encourage such an event is both irresponsible and unacceptable. Consequently, the AC will be working with WADA to ensure athletes are informed of the risks associated with this event – risks not only affecting athletes’ health and well-being but also athletes’ careers in sports. …
As advocates of clean sport, we strongly discourage any athlete from participating in these Games. Instead, we urge all athletes who believe in fair competition and athlete well-being to make their voices heard.
Some of those athletes have voiced their opposition to the idea already. Cam McEvoy, once the Olympic relay teammate of Enhanced Games evangelist James Magnussen, has hit out at the “circus” that is the Enhanced Games.
“It doesn’t count in any way, shape or form when you take drugs or wear one of the banned suits, or both,” McEvoy said in an interview with the Brisbane Times. “It’s got no relevance to Olympic or World Championship 50-meter comps, or to the international rankings around them.”
McEvoy is the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 50 freestyle, the event that is the lowest-hanging fruit for Enhanced swimmers to aim at. McEvoy has spoken at length of his efforts to continue getting faster after age 30 without cutting corners, making the offense he takes to the spectacle even more poignant.
Fellow Australian Olympian Ariarne Titmus, in a radio show appearance this week, also sharply criticized the entire endeavor.
“I was looking at it on my phone … this is a bit of a kick in the bum to any athlete who’s ever worked their whole life to train,” she told the Jase & Lauren show on Nova 100. “Everyone’s obviously able to have their own opinion, but I don’t like it.”