For over a century, the Olympic Games have been the ultimate arena for human achievement.

The highest jumpers, the fastest runners, the furthest throwers all come together to celebrate the skill, power and potential of the human body.

The Olympics are built on the promise of fairness and integrity.

The belief that greatness is earned, that greatness is worked for, that everyone has worked just as hard as each other to achieve it.

But what if these rules are the very thing holding athletes back?

What if the human body could jump higher, run faster or throw further?

All with a bit of science.

Welcome back to another episode of Particle Word for Word where we bring Particle WA's stories to life.

Today we are reading the article Are the Enhanced Games enhancing Sport?

Written by Owen Cumming and read by Katt Williams.

The Enhanced Games, a bold, controversial and some might say outrageous new sporting event.

It flips our traditional view of fairness in sport on its head.

This event is openly encouraging the use of performance enhancing substances, seeking to find the true limit of humans.

Yet the values of this new sporting event are the same as the Olympics.

It's going to be fair because everyone will be taking performance enhancing drugs.

It's going to be testing the skill, power and potential of the human body.

If the Olympics was a person, they'd probably be experiencing some tingling in their left arm, shortness of breath and some chest pain.

The symptoms of a heart attack, not the effect of performance enhancing drugs of course.

According to the Enhanced Games brains trust, this event is showing what the human body is capable of.

Not by limiting them to, but unleashing them.

Of course, unleashing a group of elite athletes on a bunch of steroids and other drugs to boost their performance doesn't come without controversy, critique and risk.

The long term effects of many of these substances are murky at best.

The Games force us to ask some big questions.

What really is fair?

Where should the line be drawn between athlete and enhanced athlete?

And ultimately what are we willing to risk?

Because with a million dollars on the line, my body might be up for a bit of tinkering.

So are the Enhanced Games the future of sport or simply a dystopian distraction?

Let's take a closer look.

Are the Enhanced Games enhancing sport?

The Enhanced Games claim to provide the ultimate demonstration of what the human body is capable of.

But how fair and safe will these drug fuelled Games be?

The Olympics I hold aloft is the epitome of human athletics, the highest level of competition possible.

But a new contest is vying for the spot at the peak of athletics.

The Enhanced Games are openly allowing and encouraging the use of performance enhancing drugs in athletic competition.

Backed by a band of billionaires, Australian entrepreneur Aaron d' Souza is the brain behind the Games.

D' Souza claims that the current anti doping laws in professional sport are anti science and restrict athletes from achieving their full potential.

The Enhanced Games will supposedly provide the ultimate demonstration of what the human body is capable of.

But how well do the Enhanced Games match up to these lofty claims?

An equal playing field One of the most common arguments against the Enhanced Games is that they compromise the fairness of professional sport.

In an interview with the ABC Sport Integrity Australia chief executive David Sharp said Australian athletes have historically demonstrated high levels of integrity and this undermines decades of commitment from Australian athletes and their sports to clean and fair sport.

It's a sentiment shared by many, but it does raise the question of how far professional sports are to begin with.

Drugs aside, there are plenty of other ways to have an unfair advantage in sport.

There's basically no such thing as an equal playing field regardless of an athlete using enhancement drugs or not, says Dr. Katinka van de Ven.

Katinka is a visiting fellow with the Drug Policy Modelling Program at the University of New South Wales and a principal consultant at 360 Edge.

Modern athletics are big business.

With each Olympics raking in billions of dollars, nations that can afford the best training, technology and medical care give their athletes a major advantage over the competition.

So is allowing the medically supervised use of enhancement drugs really any different?

Being an athlete from a rich country is very different from being an athlete from the developing world.

Using enhancement drugs just adds another layer, says Katinka.

The Enhanced Games are offering exorbitant prizes for athletes who break world records.

Olympic medal winning Australian swimmer James Magnussen said he'd juice to the gills to win the $1 million prize for breaking the 50 meter freestyle world record.

With money like that on the line, some athletes are sure to receive more support than others.

Some athletes in the Enhanced Games will not have access to the highest quality substances while being monitored by the best medical team.

Some athletes in the Enhanced Games will have access to the highest quality substances while being monitored by the best medical team, whereas others will not, says Katinka.

Is that fair?

No.

But within the confines of a competition like the Enhanced Games, is the open use of enhancement drugs really any less fair than the many other advantages athletes might receive?

Risks to health of course, there's more to be concerned about than just fairness.

The Enhanced Games organisers claim the event will be held to the highest medical safety standards, but there's a possibility that some athletes might be led to taking excessive risks that threaten their physical and mental health.

The risk with the Enhanced Games as no limitations is that there is the risk athletes would use very high quantities and a lot of different substances even when there is not a lot of evidence of their effectiveness.

Basically a just in case approach and the more people use, the higher the risks of health harms occurring, says Katinka.

There's also a concern about how the Enhanced Games might influence drug use culture more broadly, particularly among younger people.

We risk signalling that using enhancement drugs is a normal part of sport and a normal part of preparing for a sport competition.

We know that younger people start using substances, the higher the risk is of developing problems with their use.

Medical support however, the open medically supervised use of enhancement drugs could make things safer for athletes.

In 2014, a review estimated that 14 to 39% of adult elite athletes use doping.

In some natural competitions like bodybuilding, the use of enhancement drugs is all but assumed, with separate natural bodybuilding competitions needed for those who don't.

For those athletes already using performance drugs, their need to hide their use can have dangerous consequences.

Currently, enhancement drugs use is largely hidden in elite sport and anti doping policies have the unintended consequence that they can increase risky behaviours, says Katinka.

Athletes will use enhancement drugs that cannot be detected but potentially are more dangerous or it may lead to athletes not accessing health services when they experience problems with their use.

In some cases, athletes might even forgo the use of medically prescribed drugs.

Applying for a therapeutic use exemption is a complicated and costly administrative process.

In some cases it may lead to athletes being denied best practice medical care, says Katinka.

By providing a legitimate stage for drug enhanced competition, the Enhanced Games could help prevent these dangers and even reduce the use of drugs in natural athletics.

Allowing medically supervised enhancement drugs can potentially have a number of positive consequences, says Katinka.

Will it work?

Frankly, what the success and impact of the Enhanced Games will be is anyone's guess.

Maybe they will prove to be a safe, controlled way for athletes to use enhancement drugs.

Or maybe they'll inspire reckless and dangerous use among athletes and amateurs alike.

Perhaps they will provide a transcendent example of human achievement.

Or they'll be seen as a tasteless spectacle that no serious athlete would compete in.

There's only one way to find out.

We'll have no idea whether the Games are a pumped up success or a flat out flop until their first run in Las Vegas in May of 2026. Who knows?

It could be a roaring success, with medical practitioners keeping a close eye on some of the world's best athletes.

Equally, it could have some pretty dramatic side effects.

I guess there's only one way to find out.

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