In brief
- Enhanced Games will debut in Las Vegas on Memorial Day weekend in 2026.
- With PEDs allowed, Enhanced Games challenges Olympic norms and rewards record breakers with $1 million prizes.
- The first $1 million prize was awarded to former Olympic swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev.
Enhanced Games, the controversial competition that permits performance-enhancing drugs, announced Wednesday during a livestreamed press conference that its inaugural event will be held at Resorts World in Las Vegas on Memorial Day 2026.
Backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the Enhanced Games were first announced in February 2024. Unlike traditional sporting events, the Enhanced Games allow performance-enhancing drugs. Enhanced Games Founder Aron D’Souza framed the games as a challenge to athletic conventions, focusing on setting new sports standards.
“We’ve proven that we can do it once now with a 50-meter freestyle, the preeminent record in swimming,” D’Souza told Decrypt in an interview. “So let’s do it on the track and in strength events.”
D’Souza pointed to the 50-meter freestyle record broken by former Olympic swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev. The feat was chronicled in the documentary “50 Meters to History: The First Superhuman,” which details Gkolomeev’s training and the enhancements used to achieve the record.
When asked how organizations outside of the Enhanced Games will view these new records, D’Souza compared Enhanced Games records to the historical split between amateur and professional sports. He argued that just as professional achievements eventually overshadowed amateur ones, enhanced records—like Gkolomeev’s in the 50-meter freestyle—represent a new, distinct category alongside traditional Olympic records.
“The world records that the Olympic Committee keeps are the natural world records,” D’Souza said. “It’s two different things.”
D’Souza also emphasized that breaking records under the Enhanced Games banner is significantly more lucrative than in traditional competitions.
“Every major world record broken in the Enhanced Games comes with a $1 million prize,” he said. “The point of the matter is that the average Olympian in the United States only earns $30,000 a year. So this is the highest prize ever paid to a swimmer, probably by a factor of ten.”
According to D’Souza, athletes will be supported by coaches, doctors, physiologists, nutritionists, and data scientists. While Enhanced Games allows performance-enhancing drugs, he said the organization will rely on independent medical and scientific protocols to oversee athlete safety and development.
“There are robust safety guidelines that our independent medical commission sets,” D’Souza said. “Every athlete must pass a comprehensive health screening, including an electrocardiogram, MRI, and blood analysis, to ensure they are healthy and fit to compete.”
D’Souza said reactions to Enhanced Games have been sharply divided between the tech world and the traditional sports establishment.
“In the technology world, we’re deeply loved, inspiring a whole new vision of what it means to be human,” he said. “The traditional legacy sporting world is very scared. They’re scared of change. We have to embrace change and embrace the future.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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