USA Weightlifting Warns Against Enhanced Games

USA Weightlifting has released a statement reiterating its opposition to the planned Enhanced Games in Las Vegas amid what the national governing body said Tuesday is awareness that staff for the new event “are actively recruiting weightlifters and have contacted USA Weightlifting-affiliated athletes.”

“USA Weightlifting stands with the International Weightlifting Federation in strong opposition to the Enhanced Games,” said a statement by the national governing body attributed to President and CEO Matt Sicchio. “Leaders within our sport have worked diligently for years to clean up the sport, reestablish trust in the results we see on the platform, and cement the continued participation of weightlifting in the Olympic Games. The Enhanced Games fly in the face of those efforts and corrode the foundation of integrity of which true sport operates.”

The Enhanced Games bills itself as a sports festival that allows athletes to benefit from using performance-enhancing drugs, starting next year Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. The inaugural competition will feature swimming, track and field and weightlifting within Resorts World Las Vegas on the north end of the Strip.

One of the key supporters is a group called 1789 Equity backed in part by Donald Trump Jr. It has added funding “in the double-digit millions,” according to games founder Aron D’Souza. Athletes will compete for up to $500,000 in purses per event, with bonuses starting at $250,000 for those who break records.

“The Enhanced Games are an unwelcome sideshow that threaten to take the sport of weightlifting backwards, violate the spirit of true sport, and unnecessarily risk the long-term health and safety of athletes,” USA Weightlifting’s statement also reads. “We encourage any athlete contemplating participation to carefully consider how their legitimization of the use of performance enhancing drugs sets a negative example for younger generations who look to them as role models, and how their participation impacts the trust in our sport. USA Weightlifting has been a longstanding proponent of clean sport. We believe in the pursuit of excellence with integrity, and the Enhanced Games are incompatible with our core values.”