An Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza is launching what he calls the "enhanced games" which will allow athletes to use substances banned by the world anti-doping agency. He describes games as a way of allowing athletes to reach their full potential. Two billionaires including the co-founder of PayPal are backing the games to be held in the middle of next year.
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00:00 Well, I agree with a number of the opponents that say that it's both dangerous and irresponsible.
00:08 I think it's both those things and I think it hasn't been well thought through at all.
00:13 I think the impacts are far reaching and will send a message to our young people that they're
00:18 simply not good enough unless they're injecting steroids or taking some other performance
00:23 enhancement, which is not the message that we want to send to the community.
00:27 So in what ways do you say it's dangerous?
00:31 Well the reason why we have an anti-doping movement at all and why we have the World
00:35 Anti-Doping Agency is because athletes were dying.
00:39 What we saw in the 1960s is that athletes were trying to get an edge and using amphetamines
00:44 or strychnine or anything they could get their hands on and they were dying in droves.
00:50 We saw athletes having heart attacks, we saw the East German experiment which led to athletes
00:56 becoming infertile and it was impacting even on the children that were born if they weren't
01:01 infertile.
01:02 So the extreme lengths that people will go to where they use veterinary products or products
01:10 that haven't been approved for human use are simply frightening and I think this kind of
01:15 suggestion is extremely unethical and goes against what everybody has been working towards
01:23 in the sports industry for many decades.
01:26 What about talk of them being medically supervised?
01:30 Well that's a bit of a nonsense isn't it?
01:32 If you think about what is required for doctors, they have to provide medical support for therapeutic
01:38 use.
01:39 We're not talking about this for medicinal use and I wonder how the medical registration
01:44 boards would be satisfied if that's what doctors were doing.
01:48 So you're probably going to get the kind of fringe doctors who are not the best high performance
01:53 doctors in the industry to be supervising these athletes and are they going to be getting
01:59 the best treatment?
02:00 What we've seen for decades is that athletes are not necessarily honest about what they
02:05 take which is why we have an anti-doping program now.
02:08 So why would they be honest to the enhanced games and neatly fill out a diary about everything
02:13 that they're taking so that they can be monitored?
02:15 I just think it seems a bit naive.
02:17 And what do you say to at least one of the athletes who's signed on saying that he's
02:22 past his peak and he's looking for... money was a big driver for him and his argument
02:30 is that sports is about entertainment too.
02:35 Well I think there's a couple of things.
02:36 The important first one is what about his health and the health of any future children.
02:41 So I hope he's putting some sperm in the bank if he does want to have children down the
02:44 track.
02:45 On the side of the money case I do think there's an argument for the International Olympic
02:50 Committee to be looking at better sharing the money that comes through broadcasting
02:55 and sponsorship rights and so on because Olympic athletes are not paid what they're worth and
03:00 we've seen that in comparison to professional athletes in other sports whether it's Formula
03:04 One or golf or tennis or whatever it is.
03:07 So I do think that this is starting another conversation which is really important but
03:13 this is not the answer to say that drug testing's off and all bets are out.
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