Enhanced Games CEO defends controversial event

With the Olympics over, it’s not out of the question that some dirty work may have been done behind the scenes: there were rumors about male ski jumpers potentially inflating their private parts to get better time in the air. However, in Enhanced Games, as contradictory as it may seem, there is no such thing.

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

However, CEO Max Martin believes that such an event actually stands up for fairness, honesty and, most importantly, safety.

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“I would say that the greatest [misconception] is that athletes are putting their health at risk with what they do, and they only do it for money. It’s actually the opposite,” Martin said in a recent interview with Pak Gazette Digital.

“To say that enhancements are dangerous, in some circumstances, is true, yes. It can be completely abusive: doses that are too high, bad interaction between drugs, because it is not supervised or monitored, that can be very dangerous, yes. But that is exactly what we are opposed to and exactly what we will be able to avoid by being transparent and allowing it in a regulated environment.”

So how do they do that?

Well, the doctors at Enhanced have reviewed, and will continue to review, each athlete’s data and let them know what they should and can, and what they should not and cannot take. That means that yes, it’s not as easy as someone getting more upgrades simply if they want to. Some athletes, Martin said, even had to stop taking specific substances because they were not approved by Enhanced doctors.

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

That’s part of the reason Martin believes his event may actually be safer than the Olympics.

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

“What current testing systems focus on is 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 compete at the highest international level, winning medals for their countries. They don’t even have health insurance. And that’s really the problem.”

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

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

Part of the protocol is also making sure athletes take what makes sense for them and their sport. Australian swimmer James Magnussen will not receive the same improvements as, for example, a weightlifter.

“The improvements, what they’re doing is they’re not encouraging (Magnussen) to be a bodybuilder. What they’re doing is they’re very, very targeted at who he is as an individual and what he’s training specifically. And that allows him to just get better,” Martin said, adding that the improvements are more of “the icing on the cake and the fit,” rather than the main product.

Enhanced also pays its athletes handsome prize money: $250,000 for the winners, $250,000 for the rest of the field, and $1 million for anyone who breaks a world record. Perhaps not coincidentally, World Aquatics said it would start giving Olympic winners $50,000 in 2024.

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

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

Thor agrees with Martin about the safety of the event.

“What I like about what the enhancement does is that they first screen the athletes. They ask us to do a massive heart check, they take results, they draw blood, we do all these tests and check our bodies to see if we are healthy enough to participate. Once that is done, we get the green light. Throughout our training, we see doctors, and I really feel in a much better position now than when I was doing it alone,” Björnsson told Pak Gazette Digital. “I feel like I’m in good hands with Enhanced. They’re very caring and first and foremost they want to make sure I’m healthy, you know? So it’s good. I’m very excited and excited for the opportunity to be with Enhanced and 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 consecutive year 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 fair game,” even for the small number of athletes who choose not to be enhanced, because it’s totally “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. “A lot of athletes have explained to me that they came second and thought, ‘You know what, the first guy was cheating, but he didn’t get caught.’ And that’s the worst feeling you can have, because you stay within the rules, you do everything you can to become the best, someone else is taking a cheating approach, they win, you don’t get caught, it’s the worst feeling in the world.

“If you come second in the Enhanced Games and you’re not improved, you’re very proud of your performance, because you think, ‘Okay, this guy chose to do something that I didn’t want to do, but I know that within what I chose to do, I’m the best.’ And that’s what gives so many athletes like this excitement of being in the games, because it’s an open competition, a transparent competition.”

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

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

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

“Kristian Gkolomeev is the only human being who was ever able to travel the distance of 50 meters in water in 20.89 seconds. That is the fact, whether you treat this as an official word record under World Aquatics regulations or whether you treat it as an official word record under Enhanced Games regulations, the fact is that no other human being was able to do that. Full stop.”

Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece competes during the Men’s 50m Freestyle Swimming Semifinals 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)

Are you okay with people thinking that Gkolomeev’s achievement is not legitimate?

“Of course.”

Heterodox? Certainly. In the end the norm? Probably.

“People can give their opinion on whether they like it or not, but the notion that this is some steroid Olympics where everyone is going to be injected with some random drugs is completely wrong,” Martin said.

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

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