The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games
Episode
43 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Health & Wellness, Fundraising & VC
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Enhanced Games drug policy: The event permits only FDA-approved substances — testosterone, select anabolic steroids, and EPO — not unregulated gray-market peptides. Athletes undergo MRI, CT scans, and metabolic panels before being cleared to dope, and dosages are actively dialed back if health markers deteriorate, making this a regulated framework rather than an unrestricted free-for-all.
- ✓Athlete compensation gap: Olympic silver medalist Ben Proud reported financial struggle despite his Paris 2024 medal, which carries a $37,500 prize. At the Enhanced Games, last-place finishers earn a minimum $20,000, while event winners can take home $250,000 or more — exposing a structural underpayment problem for elite amateur athletes that the Enhanced Games directly exploits as a recruitment tool.
- ✓Doping limits on performance: James Magnussen over-enhanced in a 2024 trial run, bulking up so heavily he became slower in the water and couldn't fit his competition suit. The Enhanced Games dialed back his protocol for the live event, demonstrating that more testosterone does not linearly improve athletic output and that sport-specific physiology constrains doping benefits significantly.
- ✓Clean athletes outperformed doped competitors: Three of four unenhanced athletes beat their doped counterparts in head-to-head races. Combined with only one world record broken across the entire event, this outcome suggests that eight weeks of supervised doping — the protocol used here — produces insufficient performance gains to overcome elite baseline fitness, particularly in technical sports like swimming.
- ✓Revenue model is telehealth, not ticket sales: The Enhanced Games operates a direct-to-consumer platform selling testosterone replacement, GLP-1 agonists, hormone therapies, and peptides. The sporting event functions as marketing for this biohacking brand. The company requires blood tests and monthly follow-ups before dispensing substances, adding friction that distinguishes it from platforms like Hims/Hers but also raises sustainability questions if compliance costs reduce margins.
What It Covers
The Verge's Victoria Song reports from the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, where 42 athletes — most using FDA-approved performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision — competed for prize money up to $1,000,000, raising questions about sports ethics, athlete compensation, and whether the event is legitimate science or biohacking marketing.
Key Questions Answered
- •Enhanced Games drug policy: The event permits only FDA-approved substances — testosterone, select anabolic steroids, and EPO — not unregulated gray-market peptides. Athletes undergo MRI, CT scans, and metabolic panels before being cleared to dope, and dosages are actively dialed back if health markers deteriorate, making this a regulated framework rather than an unrestricted free-for-all.
- •Athlete compensation gap: Olympic silver medalist Ben Proud reported financial struggle despite his Paris 2024 medal, which carries a $37,500 prize. At the Enhanced Games, last-place finishers earn a minimum $20,000, while event winners can take home $250,000 or more — exposing a structural underpayment problem for elite amateur athletes that the Enhanced Games directly exploits as a recruitment tool.
- •Doping limits on performance: James Magnussen over-enhanced in a 2024 trial run, bulking up so heavily he became slower in the water and couldn't fit his competition suit. The Enhanced Games dialed back his protocol for the live event, demonstrating that more testosterone does not linearly improve athletic output and that sport-specific physiology constrains doping benefits significantly.
- •Clean athletes outperformed doped competitors: Three of four unenhanced athletes beat their doped counterparts in head-to-head races. Combined with only one world record broken across the entire event, this outcome suggests that eight weeks of supervised doping — the protocol used here — produces insufficient performance gains to overcome elite baseline fitness, particularly in technical sports like swimming.
- •Revenue model is telehealth, not ticket sales: The Enhanced Games operates a direct-to-consumer platform selling testosterone replacement, GLP-1 agonists, hormone therapies, and peptides. The sporting event functions as marketing for this biohacking brand. The company requires blood tests and monthly follow-ups before dispensing substances, adding friction that distinguishes it from platforms like Hims/Hers but also raises sustainability questions if compliance costs reduce margins.
Notable Moment
The event was held outdoors in 95-degree Las Vegas heat with no temperature control — a stark contrast to Eliud Kipchoge's sub-two-hour marathon attempt, which optimized every environmental variable. Several weightlifters withdrew mid-competition, and the heat visibly affected performance across the board.
Episode Transcript
Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's odoo.com. So good. So good. So good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, Frame, and Free People. Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Hello, and welcome to The Vergecast flagship podcast, Royd Rage. I'm your friend David Pearce. And on today's show, we're gonna talk to The Verge's Victoria Song who recently went to Las Vegas to go to the enhanced games. Everybody calls the enhanced games the steroid Olympics, which is not a completely wrong description, but the idea of giving athletes all of the possible biological and medical advantages they have and then seeing what happens is just deeply fascinating. We had a wild time. We're gonna get into it. I'm very excited. But first, here's a look at everything happening on The Verge today. It's ninety seconds on The Verge for Wednesday, 06/03/2026. Supernatural, everybody's favorite VR fitness game, appears to have a new lease on life. A few months ago, when Meta laid off big chunks of its metaverse and VR teams, it seemed like Supernatural was just kind of being left to die. But now, my colleague Victoria Song reports that it's being spun off as an independent company called Supernatural Health. And importantly, it's going to be run by the original founders and coaches of Supernatural. This is a huge win for Supernatural moms, for VR fitness fans, for VR fans in general, and frankly for me who now has a reason to turn on my quest for the first time in, I don't know, a year. Big win. Google put out a big blog post today laying out its commitment to solving some of the water problems created by data centers. It said that it plans to replenish more water than it uses by 2030. It said it will invest in local water infrastructure where it has data centers. It says it will find other water sources, and it will just be honest and transparent about its water use. Google is just one of the companies grappling with this giant backlash against data centers, and at least in part that backlash is about water usage and …
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“The Verge's Victoria Song reports from the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, where 42 athletes — most using FDA-approved performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision — competed for prize money up to $1,000,000”
“The company requires blood tests and monthly follow-ups before dispensing substances, adding friction that distinguishes it from platforms like Hims/Hers”
“The company requires blood tests and monthly follow-ups before dispensing substances, adding friction that distinguishes it from platforms like Hims/Hers”
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