Daily Times

Athletes at the Paris Olympics later this month will be tested for performance-enhancing drugs, but at a competition plotting to rival the Games, doping will be the point. The Enhanced Games, currently planned for late next year, will not test competitors for drugs but instead encourage them to take advantage of medical advancements to break world records.

The organisers say that by freeing athletes from the tyranny of anti-doping agencies and embracing technology, the Enhanced Games aim “to safely evolve mankind into a new superhumanity”.

But researchers who have studied the effects of performance-enhancing drugs told AFP they fear the Games will push athletes to dope at such extreme levels they could risk heart attack, stroke or even death. It remains unclear if the Enhanced Games will actually be held at all. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has dismissed the whole idea as “bollocks”. But momentum seems to be building after retired Australian Olympic swimmer James Magnussen signed up earlier this year and the competition announced millions of dollars in funding from investors including US libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel.