A new sports tournament featuring Olympic medalists will be held in Las Vegas on Sunday. The twist? Competitors can take performance-enhancing drugs.
The enhanced Games, dubbed the “Steroid Olympics,” will see 42 athletes compete in swimming, track and weightlifting.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee have strongly criticized the games, which were announced for 2023. However, others see an opportunity.
Donald Trump Jr.’s investment firm, 1789 Capital, is joining Peter Thiel at the corporate table behind the games and is leading its Series B in 2025.
Trading as Advanced Groupits stock is up nearly 35% in the past week ahead of the premiere. However, they are down about 40 percent since going public on the New York Stock Exchange through a SPAC earlier this month.
“The Advanced Games represent the future – real competition, real freedom and real records being broken,” Trump Jr. said. in a statement announcing his involvement.
What will happen?
The purpose-built stadium will host 2,500 spectators to witness a host of athletes. They will also host rock band The Killers performing at the after-party show.
In addition to the usual training regimen for athletes who advance to competitive events, most of those who participate will be using performance-enhancing substances.
Athletes can only use substances approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Participants who use such substances have been recruited under strict medical supervision, say the organizers.
They do not release individual information for athlete programs. But the company said competitors used testosterone and testosterone esters, human growth hormones, stimulants like Adderall, metabolic modulators used along with anabolic agents, erythropoietin, and anabolic steroid agents. All of these are banned by WADA.
And the event has convinced big-name athletes to compete.
Among them is the 2022 American 100m world champion, Fred Kerley, who also won silver and bronze medals at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games, will enter the track. Australian swimmer James Magnussen, who won two silver and two bronze medals at the Olympics, will also be taking part. American gold medalist swimmer Cody Miller is also on the list.
Selling peptides
Beyond games, the company has plans to sell performance-enhancing products.
Advanced Supplements announced a series of supplements in March, along with performance and longevity products such as hormone replacement therapy for men and women.
The company said in a statement that this is “the first step in the company’s plan to become a leading provider of improved personal products that improve health, performance and recovery.”
It also said it plans to provide access to peptides, which have seen increased use in recent years. The most popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs, including the likes of Wegovy, are peptide-based.
“Understanding how popular the use of peptides has become around the world we intend to invest more in this space,” CEO Maximilian Martin said in March.
