Australian Olympic great Kieren Perkins voices fears over ‘borderline criminal’ Enhanced Games, says ‘someone will die’
- The Enhanced Games will allow athletes to use pharmacological or technological help, including banned substances
- Three-time Olympian Perkins says athletes should be protected from ‘poor decisions’, questions should be asked about the organisers’ objectives
Olympic great and Australian Sports Commission chief Kieren Perkins says “someone will die” if a multi-sport event that he called “borderline criminal” and which allows banned performance-enhancing substances goes ahead.
The Enhanced Games, proposed by Australian entrepreneur and London-based Aron D’Souza, will allow athletes to use pharmacological or technological help, including substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The concept has been met with widespread criticism, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), WADA and World Athletics having denounced the proposed competition.
In a statement last week, Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the Biden administration had “deep concerns” about the Enhanced Games.
Retired Australian world champion swimmer and three-time Olympic medallist James Magnussen last month became the first athlete to agree to take part at the inaugural Games slated for the middle of next year.
D’Souza has promised Magnussen US$1 million (HK$7.8 million) if he can break Cesar Cielo’s 15-year-old world 50-metre freestyle record after taking performance-enhancing substances.
“The idea of an Enhanced Games is laughable,” Perkins said at the SportNXT conference on Tuesday.