The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games

Summary of The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games

by The Verge

43m•June 3, 2026
Listen to Episode

Overview of The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games

This VergeCast episode is largely a deep dive into the Enhanced Games—an upcoming “steroid Olympics” where athletes are allowed to use certain performance-enhancing drugs under medical supervision. Verge reporter Victoria Song describes attending the inaugural Las Vegas event and tries to parse what it really is: part sports competition, part scientific experiment, part biohacking marketing machine, and part very strange spectacle.

The Verge news roundup

Before the main interview, the show briefly covers a few Verge headlines:

  • Supernatural, Meta’s VR fitness app, is being spun off into an independent company called Supernatural Health.
  • Google says it will try to replenish more water than its data centers use by 2030 and invest in local water infrastructure.
  • Google also shared specs for DIY accessories for the new Fitbit Air fitness tracker.

What the Enhanced Games are

The Enhanced Games were launched by entrepreneur Aaron D’Souza as a radical alternative to the Olympics:

  • Athletes are allowed to use FDA-approved drugs that are typically banned in elite sports, such as:
    • Testosterone
    • Anabolic steroids
    • EPO
  • The event is framed as being done safely, transparently, and under close medical supervision.
  • About 42 athletes competed, with only four “unenhanced” competitors.
  • The event offered huge incentives, including up to $1 million for breaking a world record.

How to think about it: sport, science, or grift?

Victoria’s main point is that the Enhanced Games are all three at once, but not equally:

The “science” angle

  • Athletes are heavily screened with MRIs, CT scans, metabolic panels, and medical monitoring.
  • The organizers say they are running a five-year clinical study to track health outcomes.
  • They argue the project could help expose which enhancements are safe and useful.

The “grift” angle

  • The event also acts as a marketing funnel for a direct-to-consumer telehealth business.
  • They sell biohacking-style products such as:
    • Peptides
    • GLP-1 agonists
    • Testosterone and hormone replacement therapies
    • Supplements
  • The show strongly suggests that the sports competition is partly designed to legitimize and sell these products.

The “sports” angle

  • The event is trying to prove that performance enhancement can produce better athletic results.
  • But in practice, the first competition did not deliver the dramatic breakthrough they wanted.

What actually happened at the event

Victoria’s biggest takeaway is that the Games were more chaotic and less impressive than advertised:

  • The event took place in open-air Las Vegas heat—around 95°F—with little shade.
  • Some events were poorly staged, and the conditions seemed far from optimized.
  • A few athletes did set personal bests, but only one world record was claimed.
  • The clean athletes often outperformed the enhanced ones:
    • Three of the four unenhanced athletes beat the doped competitors in their races.
  • One notable case was swimmer James Magnussen, who reportedly got slower when he was “over-enhanced” in an earlier attempt.

The money is a huge part of the appeal

A major theme is how financially compelling the Enhanced Games are for athletes:

  • Even last-place finishers could take home at least $20,000.
  • Olympic medals often pay far less; the show cites $37,500 for an Olympic gold as a comparison.
  • Ben Proud, a recent Olympic silver medalist, reportedly won $250,000 for a single race.
  • The episode argues this raises a serious question about how poorly many elite athletes are compensated.

The bigger issue: biohacking and harm reduction

The Enhanced Games present themselves as a harm-reduction alternative to underground doping:

  • Instead of athletes secretly taking gray-market drugs, the Games say they are doing it openly and medically.
  • That pitch has some logic, but it also raises obvious ethical and safety concerns.
  • Victoria notes that the idea resonates with current debates around GLP-1s, telehealth, compounding pharmacies, and “optimization” culture.

Why the first event felt more like a stunt than a future sport

Despite the rhetoric, the episode suggests the Enhanced Games still feel more like a spectacle than a fully legitimate sport:

  • The broadcast leaned heavily on influencers and social content.
  • The crowd was limited and the whole thing felt more like a curated event than a mainstream competition.
  • The organizers say they plan to return annually and eventually expand into sports like cycling.
  • But the episode leaves open whether the public will ever care enough for this to become more than a niche curiosity.

Other VergeCast chatter: Ferrari Luce and naming the company

The episode closes with a lighter listener-feedback segment:

  • The hosts read reactions to last week’s discussion of the Ferrari Luce.
  • Listeners mostly argued it would be a better-looking car if it weren’t a Ferrari.
  • They also brainstormed names for the VergeCast’s new company, with suggestions like:
    • Flagship Media
    • The Real FCC
    • Box Media
    • Real Websites
  • The segment ends with a joke about the “flex cam” at the Enhanced Games and a warning to avoid “sexy water.”

Key takeaways

  • The Enhanced Games are a blend of sports, biohacking, and promotional theater.
  • They make a strong case for athlete compensation and transparent medical supervision.
  • But the first event did not prove that enhanced athletes are obviously superior.
  • The project’s bigger commercial goal may be selling the idea of enhancement to consumers, not just producing a new kind of sport.
  • For now, the Enhanced Games feel more like a provocative experiment than a true rival to the Olympics.