Donald Trump Jr. and the merry band of billionaire insiders surrounding the current administration have come up with their latest idea: “The Enhanced Games.” A Las Vegas sports competition where athletes are essentially encouraged to use steroids, growth hormones, adderall, and any other legal performance-enhancing drugs they can find.
The company behind this idea is 1789 Capital. Best known for its investment in Tucker Carlson’s podcast, controversial betting site Polymarket, and almost all companies owned by Elon Musk — all with the stated goal of creating “a parallel economy.” Which would explain why all their decisions have been disruptive and, frankly, political.
The Enhanced Games sound like the premise of a stand-up comedy bit, but the group actually had a test run for this competition in 2023. Australian entrepreneur Aron D’Souza already staged a 50m freestyle swimming event where Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev swam a world-record time of 20.89.
Since then, D’Souza has secured backing from Trump Jr., Peter Thiel, and Saudi royalty to host a multi-discipline competition from May 21–24 in Las Vegas. They do have rules, however. For instance, all performance-enhancing drugs must be prescribed by licensed doctors. They also won’t allow athletes to use illegal drugs such as cocaine or heroin. The competition is openly pro-enhancement and leans into transhumanism in a bid to show the “upper limits” of human performance.
They’ve also stated that athletes will be categorized “based on their chromosomal sex.” It’s a fascinating rule to shoehorn in, considering the complete disregard for anti-doping agencies’ ideas of what constitutes “fairness.” According to Vanity Fair, athletes who break certain world records could earn a $1 million cash prize.
The latest round of fundraising valued the entire enterprise at $1.2 billion, and if the first event goes off without any hitches — and draws viewers — that value could climb even higher. Of course, not everyone is excited about the prospect of turning athletes into “lab rats” for whatever Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are trying to achieve with their shadowy transhumanist ambitions.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency has already called the competition dangerous and warned it could lead to a spike in youth doping. There are also concerns about the long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs if this “parallel Olympics” becomes popular — and aspirational.
Even though the tournament is less than a month away, athlete sign-ups are still ongoing. But the billionaire backing has already made its mark — The Killers have been booked for the closing performance, and Emmanuel Acho has signed on as an announcer.
The current understanding across much of the sports world is that this will serve as a test run for Peter Thiel and Elon Musk — a proof of concept for their broader biotech ambitions. In capitalism, he who has capital dictates the terms, and the centibillionaires of the world are currently preoccupied with ways to improve healthcare and, ultimately, extend life — perhaps indefinitely.
The Enhanced Games might be entertaining, but they’ll have very little to do with the discipline and spectacle that define sports. Whenever you’re watching LeBron James or Lionel Messi, the question of “how did they do that?” loses its magic when the answer is simply: the drugs.
Published: May 1, 2026 10:57 am