Enhanced Games destined to fail, says sprint great Lewis
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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Sprint great Carl Lewis says he does not think the
controversial Enhanced Games will be successful and the American is not keen to
lend it any oxygen either.
The Enhanced Games, which allows athletes to use
performance-enhancing drugs to elicit 'superhuman' performances, has stirred
the still water of traditional sports and attracted Olympic medallists such as
American sprinter Fred Kerley and British swimmer Ben Proud.
"I don't think it's going to be
successful," nine-times Olympic gold medallist Lewis, who was in India as
brand ambassador of last Sunday's Vedanta 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."
Six-times world champion swimmer Kyle Chalmers
turned down a "life-changing" sum of money to join the Enhanced
Games, the Australian swimmer revealed last month.
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 has 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.
Lewis felt 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 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 is 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."
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