The first Enhanced Games start tomorrow in Las Vegas, with performance drugs allowed in swimming, track, weightlifting and strongman events.
Medical supervision will monitor the 40 elite athletes competing for millions of dollars as it streams online.
Sports scientist and former Olympic coach Dr Adam Storey says this competition goes against what New Zealand organisations support, as the nation prides itself on avoiding performance enhancers.
"To see what's going to happen in Las Vegas over the next few days, it's a little bit concerning - and also really disappointing."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
EDB, dubbed the Doping Olympic sports most controversial event, takes
place in Las Vegas tomorrow. The Enhanced Games allows athletes
to take performance enhancing drugs that are banned in official competitions.
There is a whopping twenty five million prize pool that
will be competed for across the likes of running, swimming,
and weightlifting. To discuss the safety and overall implications of
(00:34):
this event, Dr Adam's story is with me. Adam is
a sports scientist, high performance coach at Olympic level, and
a senior research fellow at aut Good morning, Adam, thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you for having me on board this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Okay, So, as a high performance coach that led teams
to past Olympic Games, how do you feel about the
Enhanced Games.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, Well, to be honest, I mean, it goes against
everything that you know, we really stand for in high
performance sports settings, especially in New Zealand. Like New Zealand
has had one of the proudest history in terms of
being a drug free environment. So I mean to see
what's gonna happen in Las Vegas over the next few days. Yeah,
it's a little bit concerning and also really disappointing from
(01:19):
an overall sport perspective.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I think is it better though, that at least they've
admitted what they're doing, like, you know, because there's often
whispers of drug use within sport. If we actually just
sort of, you know, lay it on the table and go,
this is what happens, and this is where if this
is what you want to do, this is where you go.
Does that is that more? Does that sort of make
(01:43):
the other sport sort of the Olympics and things potentially
look cleaner?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Yeah, And I think that's the kind of argument
that a lot of people sort of lean in turn.
And even when I was taking teams over to the
Olympics again, people would always questioned me about that around
wouldn't you be fascinated and seeing what athletes can do
doped up? But the thing is, like, it's a very
very very dangerous road to sort of hit down. And
(02:09):
I think when peopleson don't really consider what the full
ramifications are of taking steroids, like from a health perspective,
but also what it does to the perceptions of other
people wanting to take part in sport. That's where we
sort of get ourselves caught up into like a really
really dangerous downward spiral. And you know, even I noticed,
(02:29):
like one of the weightlifters, thaw Bjornsen's known as the
Mountaineers from Game of Thrones. You know, he's kind of
said in as one of his press releases that you know,
he's actually feeling healthier than he's ever felt before because
he's been taking pds or performance and hancing drugs for years,
but been doing it by himself, you know, so he's
trying to sort of justify it and say, well, I've
(02:50):
got now a full medical team behind me that is
prescribing it taking care of my health, so I feel better.
But again, I think there's kind of sugarcoating very very
dangerous situation. Again, the caveat is that these individuals have
full medical behind them, which the majority of people that
are looking to get into this kind of space would
(03:11):
not have access to.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
What kind of drugs are these athletes likely to be taking?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it's a really great question. And I guess you know,
with the advanced games, they will be advertising stuff and
I know they're selling their own kind of forms of supplements,
but I don't think they'll fully disclos right, Oh, it's
absolutely crazy indeed, so ethically that's another whole kitler fish.
But I don't think they'll fully disclose exactly what the
athletes are taking and how much above like the normal
(03:39):
circulating or natural levels. They are pushing these athletes above too.
But I mean, typically there's been talk around testosterone amplifications,
So testosterone is a primary hormone that's going to be
involved in improving muscle mares strength are that kind of stuff.
Human growth hormone has been something that's been pushed around
(04:00):
and sort of the media as well. And again some
of their supplements around promoting human growth hormone. So again
that's around how quickly your body can recover. But again
you've got other things that have popped up like EPO,
which is a massive endurance or aerobic booster, and then
there's stimulants as well, So they're looking to improve like
(04:20):
the cognitive or the brain functionality of these individuals. So
they're looking to be sharper and more alert. Again, that
that kind of stuff we've seen pop up in the media.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So what kind of impact could these performance enhancing drugs
have on on athletes health?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, I mean long term. I mean already you can
if you google image enhance games, and I'm sure that
one of the first images that you pop up will
pop up, sorry, is James magnuson the Australian Olympic swiman,
who is his words, he quotes he was reduced to
the gills. I mean he has turned into a a
almost like a WWE kind of comic book character. So
(04:59):
when the body has gone from one extreme to the next,
you know, the place is so much strained on things
like your organ especially your heart functionality. So again it's
like the long term ramifications. Again, it's potentially taking years
off an individual's life because of the immediate strain that
these individuals have put their physiology under. So essentially, like
(05:20):
the main kind of concerns are drugs that will put
a lot of strain on the cardiovascular system, which are
the likes of the EPO that I mentioned before, but
also things that are going to be potentially disrupting your
natural hormone and balance for a long period of time.
So as soon as you're taking the likes of testosterone,
human growth hormone artificially and your body will be sort
(05:41):
of counteracting that as best as it can. And again,
the long term stuff that we see down the line
is what's really concerning.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Magnuson claims to have a resting heart rate of twenty eight.
Should anyone have a resting heart rate of twenty eight?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean some Yeah, that's kind of freakis,
isn't it. I mean some individuals, to typical healthy people
around resting heart rate of sixty, so when you're around
sort of a third of your normal person. I mean
some very very for individuals do have resting heart rates
in the thirties, so that that's not too uncommon. But
(06:18):
I guess when you've got an individual that has that
amount of muscle mass on top of that, that's going
to be supplied with a low resting heart rates. Yeah,
that's pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Are you a little bit intrigued as to what their
results might be, what their performances might be.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I'm interested to see what will pop out in
terms of how much they are supposedly pushing and breaking
these records. Like I've come from an Olympic weightlifting background
myself and from a coaching perspective. So I've been watching that,
and I know some of the athletes have supposedly broken
world records already in training leading into into the Enhanced Games.
(07:01):
So whether they they look to do that in the
upcoming days, that'll be the question. But even you know,
case in point, I saw that firsthand. For example, at
the at the London Olympics. I remember being in the
training hall, you know, watching all the weightlifters train for
their their competition, and there was in Bulgarian weightlifter who
was breaking world records three days before he competed. So
(07:25):
I was watching and I filmed. I was like, Jesus,
guy is absolutely crazy. He competed three days later and
sure enough he tested positive. So again it's all that,
all that kind of stuff, it sort of comes with
swings and roundabouts.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It's going to be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
EDB, dubbed the Doping Olympic sports most controversial event, takes
place in Las Vegas tomorrow. The Enhanced Games allows athletes
to take performance enhancing drugs that are banned in official competitions.
There is a whopping twenty five million prize pool that
will be competed for across the likes of running, swimming,
and weightlifting. To discuss the safety and overall implications of
(00:34):
this event, Dr Adam's story is with me. Adam is
a sports scientist, high performance coach at Olympic level, and
a senior research fellow at aut Good morning, Adam, thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Thank you for having me on board this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Okay, So, as a high performance coach that led teams
to past Olympic Games, how do you feel about the
Enhanced Games.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah, Well, to be honest, I mean, it goes against
everything that you know, we really stand for in high
performance sports settings, especially in New Zealand. Like New Zealand
has had one of the proudest history in terms of
being a drug free environment. So I mean to see
what's gonna happen in Las Vegas over the next few days. Yeah,
it's a little bit concerning and also really disappointing from
(01:19):
an overall sport perspective.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I think is it better though, that at least they've
admitted what they're doing, like, you know, because there's often
whispers of drug use within sport. If we actually just
sort of, you know, lay it on the table and go,
this is what happens, and this is where if this
is what you want to do, this is where you go.
Does that is that more? Does that sort of make
(01:43):
the other sport sort of the Olympics and things potentially
look cleaner?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Yeah, And I think that's the kind of argument
that a lot of people sort of lean in turn.
And even when I was taking teams over to the
Olympics again, people would always questioned me about that around
wouldn't you be fascinated and seeing what athletes can do
doped up? But the thing is, like, it's a very
very very dangerous road to sort of hit down. And
(02:09):
I think when peopleson don't really consider what the full
ramifications are of taking steroids, like from a health perspective,
but also what it does to the perceptions of other
people wanting to take part in sport. That's where we
sort of get ourselves caught up into like a really
really dangerous downward spiral. And you know, even I noticed,
(02:29):
like one of the weightlifters, thaw Bjornsen's known as the
Mountaineers from Game of Thrones. You know, he's kind of
said in as one of his press releases that you know,
he's actually feeling healthier than he's ever felt before because
he's been taking pds or performance and hancing drugs for years,
but been doing it by himself, you know, so he's
trying to sort of justify it and say, well, I've
(02:50):
got now a full medical team behind me that is
prescribing it taking care of my health, so I feel better.
But again, I think there's kind of sugarcoating very very
dangerous situation. Again, the caveat is that these individuals have
full medical behind them, which the majority of people that
are looking to get into this kind of space would
(03:11):
not have access to.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
What kind of drugs are these athletes likely to be taking?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, it's a really great question. And I guess you know,
with the advanced games, they will be advertising stuff and
I know they're selling their own kind of forms of supplements,
but I don't think they'll fully disclos right, Oh, it's
absolutely crazy indeed, so ethically that's another whole kitler fish.
But I don't think they'll fully disclose exactly what the
athletes are taking and how much above like the normal
(03:39):
circulating or natural levels. They are pushing these athletes above too.
But I mean, typically there's been talk around testosterone amplifications,
So testosterone is a primary hormone that's going to be
involved in improving muscle mares strength are that kind of stuff.
Human growth hormone has been something that's been pushed around
(04:00):
and sort of the media as well. And again some
of their supplements around promoting human growth hormone. So again
that's around how quickly your body can recover. But again
you've got other things that have popped up like EPO,
which is a massive endurance or aerobic booster, and then
there's stimulants as well, So they're looking to improve like
(04:20):
the cognitive or the brain functionality of these individuals. So
they're looking to be sharper and more alert. Again, that
that kind of stuff we've seen pop up in the media.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
So what kind of impact could these performance enhancing drugs
have on on athletes health?
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, I mean long term. I mean already you can
if you google image enhance games, and I'm sure that
one of the first images that you pop up will
pop up, sorry, is James magnuson the Australian Olympic swiman,
who is his words, he quotes he was reduced to
the gills. I mean he has turned into a a
almost like a WWE kind of comic book character. So
(04:59):
when the body has gone from one extreme to the next,
you know, the place is so much strained on things
like your organ especially your heart functionality. So again it's
like the long term ramifications. Again, it's potentially taking years
off an individual's life because of the immediate strain that
these individuals have put their physiology under. So essentially, like
(05:20):
the main kind of concerns are drugs that will put
a lot of strain on the cardiovascular system, which are
the likes of the EPO that I mentioned before, but
also things that are going to be potentially disrupting your
natural hormone and balance for a long period of time.
So as soon as you're taking the likes of testosterone,
human growth hormone artificially and your body will be sort
(05:41):
of counteracting that as best as it can. And again,
the long term stuff that we see down the line
is what's really concerning.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Magnuson claims to have a resting heart rate of twenty eight.
Should anyone have a resting heart rate of twenty eight?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah? Yeah, I mean some Yeah, that's kind of freakis,
isn't it. I mean some individuals, to typical healthy people
around resting heart rate of sixty, so when you're around
sort of a third of your normal person. I mean
some very very for individuals do have resting heart rates
in the thirties, so that that's not too uncommon. But
(06:18):
I guess when you've got an individual that has that
amount of muscle mass on top of that, that's going
to be supplied with a low resting heart rates. Yeah,
that's pretty incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Are you a little bit intrigued as to what their
results might be, what their performances might be.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I'm interested to see what will pop out in
terms of how much they are supposedly pushing and breaking
these records. Like I've come from an Olympic weightlifting background
myself and from a coaching perspective. So I've been watching that,
and I know some of the athletes have supposedly broken
world records already in training leading into into the Enhanced Games.
(07:01):
So whether they they look to do that in the
upcoming days, that'll be the question. But even you know,
case in point, I saw that firsthand. For example, at
the at the London Olympics. I remember being in the
training hall, you know, watching all the weightlifters train for
their their competition, and there was in Bulgarian weightlifter who
was breaking world records three days before he competed. So
(07:25):
I was watching and I filmed. I was like, Jesus,
guy is absolutely crazy. He competed three days later and
sure enough he tested positive. So again it's all that,
all that kind of stuff, it sort of comes with
swings and roundabouts.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
It's going to be fascinating.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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