Enhanced Games CEO defends controversial event

Once the Olympics are over, it’s not out of the question that some dirty work is going on behind the scenes: rumors were circulating that male ski jumpers were potentially inflating their private parts for better hang time. In enhanced games, as counterintuitive as it may seem, no such thing exists.

The Enhanced Games have long been called the “Steroid Olympics” by critics. The event is not named by chance, as performance enhancements will be allowed.

However, CEO Max Martin believes that such an event truly stands for fairness, honesty and, above all, safety.

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“I would say the biggest [misconception] it’s that athletes are putting their health at risk with what they do, and they’re just doing it for the money. It’s actually quite the opposite,” Martin said in a recent interview with PK Press Club Digital.

“To say that enhancements are dangerous, in certain circumstances, is true, yes. It can be completely abusive – too high a dosage, a bad drug interaction, because it’s unsupervised and unmonitored, it can be very dangerous, yes. But that’s exactly what we’re against and that’s exactly what we’ll be able to get around by being transparent and allowing that in a regulated environment.”

So how do they do this?

Well, the improved doctors have and will continue to go through each athlete’s data and let the athlete know what they should and can, and what they should not and cannot take. This means that, yes, it’s not as simple as asking someone to get more upgrades just if they want them. Some athletes, Martin said, even had to stop taking specific substances because they weren’t approved by Enhanced’s doctors.

“And why isn’t it approved? Because we haven’t yet found out through research whether it’s safe or not,” Martin said.

That’s part of why Martin thinks his event might actually be safer than the Olympics.

“[They] taking substances that are not extensively researched, that we do not know well, that are newly developed. We have no data on how these substances actually work in your system. And then, secondly, taking additional medications like a masking agent to hide what you’re taking in the first place, that’s extremely dangerous,” Martin said. “If you bring it out in the open and allow athletes to use controlled and enhanced substances, which you know very, very well about the safety profiles, the benefit profiles, and you monitor them constantly and over time, then you know if something has gone wrong. Because we monitor athletes so well, we notice it immediately.”

“Current testing systems focus on punitive drug testing. They only focus on whether an athlete is cheating or not. What they don’t focus on is whether an athlete is healthy and safe to compete,” he continued. “Some of our guys didn’t even have health coverage, and they’re competing at the highest international level, winning medals for their country. They’re not even insured. And that’s really the problem.”

In this photo illustration the Enhanced Games logo is displayed on a smartphone screen. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to win. What we need to do, and what we are obsessed with, is making sure that every athlete who competes is healthy and safe to compete.”

Part of the protocol is also ensuring athletes take what makes sense for them and their sport. Australian swimmer James Magnussen won’t benefit from the same improvements as, say, a weightlifter.

“The enhancements, what they do is they don’t push (Magnussen) to become a bodybuilder. What they do is they’re very, very focused on who he is as an individual and what he’s training for specifically. And that just allows him to get better,” Martin said, adding that the enhancements are more “icing on the cake and fine-tuning,” rather than the main product.

Enhanced also pays its athletes a hefty sum: $250,000 for the winners, $250,000 for the rest of the field, and $1 million for anyone who breaks a world record. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that World Aquatics announced it would start donating $50,000 to Olympic winners in 2024.

“I think they’ve done this because they know we’re going to start paying athletes well, and athletes will evaluate that. They’re scared. It’s a beautiful thing. That’s the positive impact that we already have, and I think there will be more in terms of positive impact that we can inspire other sports institutions to do the same in the future,” Martin said.

One of the athletes who will participate in Enhanced is Hafþor Juius Bjornsson, better known as “The Mountain” from “Game of Thrones”, or simply “Thor”. With 32 international Strongman titles, the 6-foot-9, 400-plus pound giant will himself attempt to break his own deadlift world record of 1,124 pounds to win a grand prize.

Thor is in sync with Martin on the security of the event.

“What I like about what Enhancement does is they check the athletes first. They give us a massive heart exam, they take the results, we do blood work, and we do all these tests, and we check our bodies to see if we’re healthy enough to compete. Once that’s done, we get the green light. Throughout our training, we see doctors, and it really feels like I’m in a much better place now that I’m doing it. was doing it alone,” Björnsson told PK Press Club Digital. “I feel like I’m in good hands with Enhanced. They’re really caring and they want to make sure I’m healthy first and foremost, you know? So that’s good. I’m really thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to be with Enhanced and to have the opportunity to break the record with Enhanced.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger presents the trophy to Hafthor Bjornsson of Iceland as Bjornsson won the Arnold Strongman Classic title for the third year in a row as part of the Arnold Sports Festival on March 7, 2020, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Throughout the event, there will be nothing to hide. As Martin said, “It’s a fair game,” even for the small number of athletes who choose not to be enhanced, because it’s completely “transparent.”

“These athletes know what they’re up against, you know? They have the same opportunities to use the same access to the medical program…” Martin said. “So many athletes have explained to me that they came second and they’re like, ‘You know what, the first one was cheating, but they didn’t catch him.’ And it’s the worst feeling you can have, because you play by the rules, you do everything you can to become the best, someone else takes a cheating approach, wins, doesn’t get caught, it’s the worst feeling in the world.

“If you come in second in the Enhanced Games and you’re not improved, you’re very proud of your performance, because you’re like, ‘OK, this guy chose to do something that I didn’t want to do myself, but I know that at what I chose to do, I’m the best.’ And that’s what gives so many athletes this enthusiasm about participating in the Games, because it’s an open, transparent competition. »

And yes, Martin “absolutely” believes that any world record set would be legitimate, even if not officially recognized.

“There are studies that show that 43% of Olympians use banned substances, but 1% get caught. That calls into question, for me, every record, every performance, because on average every other athlete is cheating,” Martin said.

Last year, Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev swam a 50-meter freestyle in 20.89 seconds, the fastest ever, with the benefit of performance-enhancing drugs (an enhanced Magnussen failed). Although most may consider it illegitimate, Martin takes pride in knowing that Gkolomeev doesn’t have to hide how he got there – unlike athletes such as Marion Jones, Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery and many others.

“Kristian Gkolomeev is the only human being capable of covering a distance of 50 meters in water in 20.89 seconds. That’s a fact, whether you consider that an official record under World Swimming regulations or whether you consider it an official record under Enhanced Games regulations, the fact is that no other human being has ever been able to do that. Period.”

Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece competes in the men’s 50m freestyle swimming semi-finals at the Paris La Defense Arena during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on August 1, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Does he agree if people think Gkolomeev’s success is not legitimate?

“Of course.”

Unorthodox? Certainly. Finally the norm? Maybe.

“People can make up their minds about whether they like it or not, but the idea that this is a Steroid Olympics where everyone is going to be randomly injected with drugs is completely false,” Martin said.

“After May 24, I think the world will have a very different outlook.”

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