By: Myles Vazquez
Fred Kerley, an American former 100m world champion and Olympic medalist, recently signed up for the Enhanced Games, a newly established sporting competition in which competitors can use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). This has generated a lot of controversy among competitors. The idea behind the Enhanced Games is to provide a platform for competitors who choose to use PEDs so that they can participate without the restrictions of traditional anti-doping measures. Kerley’s decision to play in this league has fueled debate about the future and ethics of sport.
The Enhanced Games have been positioned to attract athletes who believe they are being held back by the anti-doping rules of traditional competition. In permitting PEDs, the league is attempting to level the playing field so that athletes can maximize human ability. The move, however, has come under scrutiny in the message it conveys as regards to health risk and sport integrity. Individuals decry embracing the use of PEDs as being against the principle of fair play and clean competition and might set the example for other athletes to emulate.
Kerley’s involvement in the Improved Games has served to highlight an increasingly growing gap between mass sport and burgeoning alternatives. To one person, his involvement is an individual choice; to another, a reflection of a larger movement in which athletes demand conditions that are to their benefit, even if this entails a subversion of tradition. This kind of revolution is difficult for such organizations like World Athletics, which has to function under the paradox of preserving the honor of the sport and responding to the evolving needs of players.
The impact of the Enhanced Games on global athletics is unknown. While the league will attract players who desire fewer restrictions, the sport loses fans and supporters who enjoy the sport’s tradition. In addition, long-term consequences of using PEDs by athletes within a contest environment are unknown, and this raises ethical concerns over the moral responsibility of such events.
In short, the decision of Fred Kerley to compete in the Enhanced Games is a turning point in the evolution of athletics. While the sport is in controversy regarding enhancement of performance and codes of behavior, new games create a window of opportunity for the orthodoxy hands to be relaxed. The fate of athletics will lie in the reaction of the stakeholders towards the conflict between innovation, athlete choice and maintaining the integrity of the sport.
