The Post-Natural Era of Athletics is Here

Sep 26, 2025 | Sport

Our Take

The news of a pro-doping competition of this scale has sparked intense backlash, and no one’s been louder than the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Enhanced Games directly challenge the core values of the Olympics, which uphold a strict zero-tolerance policy on doping. Still, despite its critics, many support the concept. Advocates argue it could level the playing field and push the boundaries of human performance, while opponents raise concerns about ethics and safety. Regardless of who’s right, the Enhanced Games signal a growing divide in the world of athletics.

Source Summary

A bold new competition format is coming, one that challenges the norms of traditional sporting events. The Enhanced Games is a high level, pro-doping event set to debut in May 2026 in Las Vegas. Created by Australian lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Aron D’Souza and backed by Peter Thiel cofounder of PayPal and Palantir, the event is designed to push the limits of human performance—what D’Souza calls “the next evolution of sports.” It will feature swimming, track and field, and weightlifting, each event with a $500,000 prize pool and the potential for up to $1 million in bonuses for breaking unofficial world records.

Back in 2015, we predicted this scenario in our Future of Sports 1.0, noting that “within 10 to 25 years, it could become the norm for enhanced and natural athletes to compete in entirely separate leagues—just as we now distinguish between amateur collegiate and professional sports.”

[The Washington Post]