Enhancement

The Enhanced Games Proved Enhancement Works But Youth Works Better

But many older enhanced athletes did achieve better results than their younger selves.

Ronald Bailey | 6.2.2026 1:45 PM

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(Maximilian Haupt/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom)

The Enhanced Games, in which elite athletes were allowed under medical supervision to use various pills and injections to boost their performance, took place in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. The Games were hyped by organizers as "the future of sport – where science, athleticism, and progress inspire superhuman achievement." Not surprisingly, the Luddites at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency dismissed the event as a "dangerous clown show that puts profits over principle."

With respect to superhuman achievements, the Games were, to be honest, something of a dud. On the other hand, many of the enhanced older competitors did better than their younger selves.

So what enhancements did the competitors use? Organizers did not release individual athletes' regimens but did, prior to the Games, reveal that 91 percent used testosterone, 79 percent used human growth hormone, 62 percent used stimulants such as Adderall, 50........

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