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Weight Lifting on Steroids in Vegas

Are we witnessing the future of human enhancement, or just a twisted sideshow?

I am sitting in the sweltering Nevada heat watching Boady Santavy struggle to lift a bar over his head. If he manages it, he will win $250,000. This man has muscles that look culled from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: massive, cartoonish arms. He is one of 42 athletes competing in the Enhanced Games, a unique and notorious athletic competition where almost all are on performance-enhancing drugs.


The world record for the men’s snatch — a lift of 183 kilograms or approximately 403 pounds — has been shattered here, but not by Santavy. He drops the bar in an animated look of dismay, visibly cursing as he hobbles away.


These athletes are part of a growing industry that Silicon Valley embraces: human enhancement through injectable drugs and supplements. Traditional athletic organizations hate it. The World Anti-Doping Agency calls it dangerous, but Enhanced argues they’re fixing the persistent bug in organized sports where doping is already widespread, just secretly. They offer personalized health treatments, including peptides for weight loss and testosterone injections.


The games are a business venture that aims to transform into a global distribution network. With an IPO valued at $1.2 billion, Enhanced wants everyone from tech nerds to athletes to enhance their physical performance — but the real question is: at what cost?

Original source:  https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/31/i-went-to-the-so-called-steroid-olympics-to-understand-why-silicon-valley-is-obsessed-with-peptides/
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