CONTROVERSY surrounding the upcoming “Enhanced Games” continues to escalate with new athlete commitments and developments emerging prior to the events taking place in May.
Emily Barclay has been named the latest British athlete to join the games. The 28-year-old swimmer won a gold medal in the 50m freestyle at the British Championships back in 2019 before continuing her career in the United States where she competed for the University of Arkansas.
Barclay becomes the third British athlete to sign up for the event with sprinter Reece Prescot and Olympic swimmer Ben Proud already being confirmed to participate.
Australian lawyer and entrepreneur Aron D’Souza had announced to the world back in 2023 that he was going to stage the Enhanced Games, intending for it to be an elite athletic competition that allows its competitors to use performance enhancing drugs.
The competition’s motive to promote and allow the use of substance abuse openly defies the rules enforced by the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and all international sports federations.
Many major sporting bodies have already taken action against the event, including bans on participating athletes by World Aquatics, strong criticism from WADA and the UK Anti-Doping organisation (UKAD), and the dismissal by the U.S. federal court on an $800M antitrust lawsuit filed by the games’ organisers against the disapproving organisations.
The Enhanced Games are set to run from May 21st to May 24th in Las Vegas, planning to be an annual event to reoccur in the following years.
