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Getting the world\u2019s best athletes to abandon elite competition for the fringe ecosystem of the Enhanced Games is no easy feat. In part, that\u2019s because athletes would potentially have to give up their Olympic dreams in order to participate, as the International Olympic Committee has threatened to bar any athlete who even attends the Enhanced Games, whether or not they use PEDs (not all of them did), from competition. The result was a roster made up largely of retired athletes or competitors who had never quite reached the level required to break world records in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cA good athlete probably couldn\u2019t do what Barry Bonds did, or pitch as fast as Roger Clemens,\u201d says Darren Rovell, the former ESPN journalist turned venture capitalist. \u201cSo the question becomes\u2014and I think this is where the concern lies\u2014what is the delta between a great athlete and a good athlete? They didn\u2019t sign up legends, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
While records weren\u2019t necessarily shattered, 22 athletes achieved personal bests at the games. But whether the public cares about incremental improvement is another question entirely.<\/p>\n
Rovell is skeptical. He\u2019s blunt about the strategic bind the Games created for itself: The public only cares if records are not merely broken, but obliterated. \u201cCan they beat Michael Phelps? That\u2019s the real question,\u201d he says, \u201cand it\u2019s not clear the answer is yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he\u2019s spent the last few days talking to three of the greatest athletes of all time (he told me who they were, but only if I agreed not to mention them by name in the article), all of whom, he says, dismissed the Games as a \u201cjoke.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not everyone sees it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t think it was a flop,\u201d says swimmer Hunter Armstrong, who notably raced clean at the Enhanced Games in the hope of remaining eligible for the Olympics in 2028. He ended up beating every drug-using athlete in the 50-meter backstroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd maybe that\u2019s on us, because everybody pushed this narrative\u2014world records are going to be shattered,\u201d he continued. \u201cI believed that. I still do. But these aren\u2019t miracle drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many of the athletes who participated in the Games, they provided maybe the only chance they\u2019ll have to compete on the world\u2019s stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking out on that stage, seeing yourself on a massive screen, hearing the crowd cheer\u2014it\u2019s the first time swimmers have experienced anything like that at this level,\u201d says Irish swimmer Max McCusker. \u201cThat\u2019s where you want sport to be. As a kid, that\u2019s what you dream of. It was almost a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want us to stop, but we\u2019re not going to,\u201d says Martin. \u201cWith what we\u2019re doing, we\u2019re literally having a positive impact on people\u2019s lives. And if you\u2019re not a fan of it, that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fashion editor, Daniel Negron; hair products by L\u2019Or\u00e9al Professionnel; makeup products by Dior; grooming products by Huda Beauty; hair, makeup, and grooming, Kalina Kocemba. Produced on location by MMG Art Production. For details, visit VF.com\/credits<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n