What if the Australian guy behind Enhanced Games is right? What if he really is about to destroy the Olympics? And help launch a trillion-dollar industry in the process?
Aron D’Souza knows it sounds strange. But the Melbourne-born, London-based president of Enhanced Games is serious.
“Thousands and thousands of athletes have shown interest and we are in negotiations with many of them,” D’Souza told AAP.
“It’s very simple: we will sign formal contracts immediately after the Olympic Games in Paris.”
More Australians could join swimmer James Magnussen and sign up for the multi-sport competition for doping users.
It’s not just athletes who want to improve their performance.
They are the showcase for a new-age industry with an age-old premise: the fountain of youth. Could be worth trillions.
Australian Aron D’Souza is the driving force behind the Enhanced Games that he wants to launch after the Olympic Games in Paris
During the Enhanced Games, athletes are free to use performance-enhancing drugs
Athletes are promised the best medical care in the world: if they have a problem, it has consequences for an industry that is potentially worth billions.
“Thousands and thousands of athletes have shown interest and we are in negotiations with many of them,” D’Souza told AAP.
“It’s very simple: we will sign formal contracts immediately after the Olympic Games in Paris.”
More Australians could join swimmer James Magnussen and sign up for the multi-sport competition for doping users.
It’s not just athletes who want to improve their performance.
They are the showcase for a new-age industry with an age-old premise: the fountain of youth. Could be worth trillions.
According to D’Souza, Enhanced Games are the means to create “superhumanity – humans 2.0” and end the stigma that hinders the wider use of medically assisted enhancements in society.
Australian and international Olympians will be approached in France to participate in the Enhanced Games
Some investors compare Enhanced Games, and by extension the enhancement industry, to investments in AI in 2010.
He thinks they are underestimating it.
“It may sound a little bit like science fiction,” D’Souza said.
“It may take a long time to develop, but if we get it right, we can lay claim to what I think will be the greatest industry of all time.”
D’Souza tells potential investors about the weight-loss drug ozempic, a booster drug that has added $1 trillion (A$1.5 trillion) to the market cap of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
“In contrast, all AI startups, including Open AI, are only worth $200 billion ($300 billion),” he said.
‘So one enhancing drug is worth five times as much as AI.
‘They don’t realize it until I make that comparison: the human enhancement industry is so big.
“And what is the biggest projection for human enhancement? Enhanced Games.”
Australian swimming champion James Magnussen has already announced that he will participate in the first Enhanced Games
Enhanced Games officials will be on hand in Paris to interview athletes, as D’Souza predicts the end of the broken Olympic model.
Olympic host countries are struggling with sky-high financial costs and fights. Trust in the International Anti-Doping Agency is minimal and athletes rarely receive financial rewards for their efforts.
The Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger – will soon be irrelevant, he said.
“The reality is that the fastest people in the world will not be at the Olympics, they will be at the Enhanced Games,” D’Souza said.
‘Athletes and presenters also realize that… who wants to participate in the old slow Olympics?’
D’Souza says critics are missing the medical and scientific benefits by labeling the Enhanced Games, which takes place late next year, as a sports freak show.
Specific medical arrangements and compensation for athletes will be announced later this year at an Apple-style launch.
Magnussen has kept himself in top condition and wants to see how fast he can go
Magnussen then begins a year-long doping program in an attempt to break the world record in the 50-meter freestyle and receive a $1 million reward.
D’Souza expects an attractive selection of talent, although Magnussen is still the only athlete in the world to have publicly committed.
The 33-year-old has stayed fit since retiring in 2019, is a former alpha male of the Australian swimming team, media savvy and a four-time Olympic medallist.
He fits the bill perfectly, says D’Souza.
“We’re getting a lot of interest from outside,” he said.
‘There are a number of specific individuals who have the right combination of abilities, charisma and television presence.
‘We believe our approach is more like that of Formula 1 than that of the Olympic Games.
‘At the Olympic Games you are admitted if you run or swim a certain qualifying time.
‘Unlike Formula 1, you not only have to be a good driver, but also a good spokesperson, because you represent the Ferrari or McLaren brand.
‘It’s a bit of selection, but also a bit of casting.
“Especially those who we consider our main athletes, who can represent the social movement and the scientific movement that we are building and do it very well.”
D’Souza launched Enhanced Games 13 months ago, with track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics and martial arts on the program.
He had plans for facilities similar to those of American universities where events could be live streamed.
But the brains behind Enhanced Games are overwhelmed by the response.
Forward-thinking investors have already taken advantage of this.
German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist and political activist backs Enhanced Games
Multibillionaire libertarian Peter Thiel, who has signed up to be cryogenically preserved after his death, and venture capitalist and biotechnologist Christian Angermayer, who himself uses an enhancement program, are among the investors.
A production company owned by Ridley Scott will film the journey of Magnussen and other top athletes, while global networks vie for broadcast rights.
Countries are volunteering to host the event: they not only want to host the sporting event, but also want to be known as the home of the enhancement industry.
“Silicon Valley is the capital of internet software and artificial intelligence; Taiwan is the capital of semiconductors; LA is the capital of film,” D’Souza said.
‘And the country that hosts the Enhanced Games will become the capital of longevity and human enhancement, which to me will be one of the greatest industries of all time.
‘At the industrial policy level, countries now see the great potential of Enhanced Games as a brand projection on a global scale.’
But not Australia.
“Australia is very bad at building new technology industries,” he said.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott, pictured left on the set of Napoleon, will film the first Enhanced Games
“The fact that the Australian government works so closely with WADA, AOC and IOC means they can’t even consider the opportunities in this multi-billion dollar industry and we are left behind.”
Yet there were many Australians among those who visited D’Souza’s office with interest.
“We get nearly 1,000 people every week, not just athletes, but job seekers, partners, sponsors, cold emailing us saying they want to get involved in Enhanced Games,” he said.
‘A good third of them come from Australia.
‘The reason why I am so confident of our success is not so much about athlete recruitment, sponsorship or financing, but about the talent aspect.
“Our ability to recruit super talented people through our mission to create a super humanity, the human 2.0 – the world sees this.
“And smart people say, ‘Wow, this is going to be a great company with an important mission that is going to change the world.’”
