Have you ever wondered how fast a 100m race could be run or how quickly a marathon could be completed without the usual restrictions? Wind-assisted sprints and jumps are not recognised for world records. Nor are, obviously, drug-assisted ones.
The world record in the long jump is Mike Powell’s 8.95m, but Powell himself has leapt to a wind-assisted 8.99m.
As for drug-enhanced performances, the fastest 100m that was known to be drug-assisted was Ben Johnson’s 9.79 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. When the report arrived at the newspaper I was then working in, I gave the heading ‘Fastest junkie on earth’, and was pulled up for it.
There are moral, ethical, medical, financial, and philosophical reasons for keeping drugs out of sports. But for those who believe that drugs are a matter of choice and take them despite everything, here come the so-called Enhanced Games. Slated for 2025 (if it gathers enough momentum), there will be no drug testing there. Prosthetic limbs and banned shoes will be allowed, too. It is the brainchild of an Australian businessman Aron D’Souza.
D’Souza sees the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as corrupt and greedy and wants to eradicate the World Anti-Doping Agency, which he calls an “anti-science police force for the IOC.”
The promised prize money, by all accounts, appears attractive. Former world champion swimmer James Magnussen, 32, says he will come out of retirement. The Australian says, “I’ll juice to the gills, and I’ll break the world record.” If he does, he expects to be paid a million dollars.
Some officials have said the Enhanced Games could lead to deaths, with the Australian Olympic Committee calling it “dangerous and irresponsible.” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has said, “No one within athletics takes the Enhanced Games seriously.”
And yet.
There may be enough curiosity in sports and business circles to see if someone on drugs can beat Usain Bolt’s 9.58 in the 100m. After all, according to one argument, we are looking for the fastest man on earth, not the most ethical or morally upright, and if that speed comes with some help, it is the athlete’s lookout. Olympians who support the Enhanced Games have pointed out that the IOC does not pay the athletes.
The so-called ‘Olympics on Steroids’ is seen by its founder as the future of sports. As to its health drawbacks, here’s what he told a television channel: “For the people who say this is unsafe or unhealthy, I’d tell them that the two longest-serving sponsors of the Olympics are Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, the two organisations that have done the most damage to health in human history.”
In a few months, the idea might have either fizzled out or gained enough impetus to carry sports backwards at great speed. Some years ago, an IOC official suggested that drugs ought to be allowed at the Olympics. Is this an idea whose time has come? Are we on the verge of destroying what sports stand for and what they have meant for generations?
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