Dozens of juiced athletes competed at the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas. Most won’t admit what drugs they used.
But once it was all done, it was hard to shake some of the contradictions in the event’s messaging—and the dystopian, grifty feel that lingered over what felt like a culmination of MAHA-driven health policies Silicon Valley biohacking culture.
According to an ongoing clinical trial involving 36 of 42 Enhanced Games athletes (only two of whom competed naturally), participants used testosterone esters, anabolic agents, peptides and growth factors, metabolic modulators, and stimulants.
In the leadup to the Games, organizers said 91 percent of athletes used testosterone or testosterone esters, 79 percent used human growth hormone, and 62 percent used stimulants like Adderall. All of the substances studied were FDA-approved, says the organization, which also sells PEDs.
A paper about the Enhanced Games by PED researchers published in the journal Performance Enhancement & Health last August notes that androgenic-anabolic steroids can cause “life-altering effects” on cardiovascular, endocrine, and cognitive function and that any harm reduction framework would need “comprehensive health assessments before PED use begins, but also long-term ongoing clinical support.”
Lending credibility to the event was Hafthor “Thor” Björnsson, one of the most decorated strongmen in history, who also played The Mountain in Game of Thrones. Performance-enhancing drugs are largely legal across strongman competitions; Björnsson, 37, has been juicing since he was 19. In fact, because the Enhanced Games “only” allowed FDA approved substances, Björnsson had to stop taking a few drugs that are part of his normal routine.
To Björnsson, an open environment like this for PED use is preferable to the way he came up. He admits he didn’t know what he was doing when he first started taking them.
“By doing bloodwork and by being under great supervision like I am today, I’m a lot more aware of my health,” he says. Björnsson, like virtually every other athlete I spoke with in Vegas, lauded the level of care he received from Enhanced as some of the best of his career while stressing how vital this kind of oversight is while doping.
