Behind the closed doors of Silicon Valley and the exclusive circles of American billionaires, drugs for “body optimization” are no longer a secret. Testosterone injections, growth hormones, anti-aging peptides and cognitive enhancers are already circulating among entrepreneurs, investors and influencers obsessed with the idea of longevity, writes The Washington Post.
Athletes simultaneously become competitors, guinea pigs and advertising tools/FOTO:X
Now, however, this culture of “biohacking” is coming to light. And not anyway, but through a sports show organized in Las Vegas, where elite athletes are encouraged to use banned substances to push their physical limits.
The project is called Enhanced Games and is financially supported by heavy names in the world of American technology and investment. Organizers say they want to revolutionize sports and anti-aging medicine. Critics, however, warn that the experiment risks normalizing doping and turning the human body into a commercial laboratory.
“If the drugs exist, why not use them?”
In recent days, German billionaire Christian Angermayer went about his daily routine in a Las Vegas hotel.
At 48, the investor looks, say those close to him, almost a decade younger. His prescription includes weight loss injections, testosterone, growth hormones and peptides normally used for other medical purposes. For energy and concentration he takes stimulants usually prescribed to patients with sleep disorders.
Angermayer is one of the founders and main financiers of the Enhanced Games competition, a project that overturns one of the fundamental rules of modern sports: the prohibition of doping.
The competition brings together elite swimmers, runners and weightlifters, including former Olympians, who use customized “enhancement” programs under the supervision of doctors. The stakes are huge: millions of dollars in prizes and the chance to break world records.
But the ambition of the project goes beyond sports. The founders want to turn these experimental therapies into a mass product.
Silicon Valley and the obsession with immortality
In recent years, the American tech world has developed an almost religious fascination with life extension and body optimization.
Billionaires, investors and entrepreneurs are pouring huge sums into anti-aging treatments, gene therapies, supplements and unethical medical experiments.
Among Enhanced Games' backers is Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley's best-known investors and a longtime promoter of life-extension therapies.
The company behind the competition is also developing an online medical platform that will sell testosterone and other products aimed at physical and cognitive “optimization”. The idea is simple: if athletes can publicly demonstrate that such substances work, then the general public will be more willing to consume them.
The global wellness and supplement industry is already worth trillions of dollars, fueled by influencers, celebrities and online communities dedicated to physical performance and longevity.
Harsh critics: “A dangerous show”
The project provoked harsh reactions from medical experts and anti-doping organizations.
The US Anti-Doping Agency has described the competition as “a dangerous circus”, accusing organizers of putting profit before the safety of athletes.
Doctors warn that many of the substances used — testosterone, growth hormones, EPO or anabolic steroids — can have serious effects: heart attacks, vascular accidents, infertility, mental problems or even sudden death.
Critics say the real danger is not just to the athletes involved, but to young audiences who may come to believe that performance and success depend on the use of such substances.
Sports or advertising?
To many observers, the Enhanced Games look more like a giant marketing campaign than a genuine sporting competition.
Athletes simultaneously become competitors, guinea pigs, and advertising tools for an industry that sells the promise of ageless youth.
The organizers do not hide the fact that the event is meant to promote their future medical products and services. Company filings show that the sports show is, in fact, a way to build brand awareness and attract customers.
In Las Vegas, the competition will take place in an arena built especially for the event, with VIP guests, luxury boxes and concerts. Organizers hope that images of chemically “enhanced” athletes will become the most effective possible advertisement for the new longevity industry.
“The Future of Human Performance”
Proponents of the project say the sports world has always been obsessed with finding an edge — through training, technology, nutrition or hidden doping. The difference, they say, is that now everything is done transparently and under medical supervision.
Some athletes involved openly admit that the main motivation is financial. Others say they participate because they see the competition as the beginning of a new era in which people will deliberately modify their bodies to become stronger, faster and live longer.
Behind the talk of “freedom of choice” and “human optimization,” however, critics see a much more uncomfortable question: How far is society willing to go in turning the human body into a product?
