Enhanced Games destined to fail, says sprint great Carl Lewis
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Head Coachn of Track and Field at the University of Houston and former U.S. Olympic Track and Field Athlete Carl Lewis attends the Milken Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 6, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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NEW DELHI – Sprint and long jump great Carl Lewis says he does not think the controversial Enhanced Games will succeed and the American is not keen to lend it any oxygen either.
The Enhanced Games, which allow athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs to elicit “superhuman” performances, have stirred the still water of traditional sports and attracted Olympic medallists such as American sprinter Fred Kerley Ben Proud.
“I don’t think it’s going to be successful,” nine-gold Olympic champion Lewis, who was in India as brand ambassador of the Oct 12 Delhi Half Marathon, told Reuters.
“I just don’t think people want to abandon faith in things that are right just for the sake of performance. It’s not just about competing. Sports is about doing the right thing.”
Australian six-time world champion swimmer Kyle Chalmers turned down a “life-changing” sum of money to join the Enhanced Games, he revealed in September.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has slammed the event as “dangerous and irresponsible”, while athletes who joined it have faced backlash from fans and administrators.
Enhanced Games have sued World Aquatics, USA Swimming and Wada, alleging an illegal campaign to “crush” the event.
Lewis said it lacked “purpose and honour” and did not see it as a threat to the image or integrity of Olympic sports.
“I think we’re giving it more legs than it deserves,” he said.
The 64-year-old felt that athletics at the top level was financially attractive and its leading athletes were less likely to fall to the lure of the Enhanced Games.
“There will always be people who’d like to do their own thing their own way and have their own motivation. Some people will be in enhanced sports not because of sports but because they think they can make money,” he added.
“The less oxygen we give to that subject and get that event, I think the more challenging it would be for them.”
The Enhanced Games have set their inaugural competition for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with athletics, swimming and weightlifting on the agenda.
Lewis’ collection of nine Olympic gold medals includes one stripped from drug cheat Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The American was unsurprisingly pithy about why he thinks the Enhanced Games are a non-starter. “I don’t think many athletes will compete,” he said.
“I don’t think any records will be broken because I don’t think the event is going to happen because I don’t think the money will be there because I don’t think people would support it.” REUTERS
