The “steroid Olympics” has clinched a “double-digit” million-dollar cash infusion from investors led by Donald Trump Jr. as the controversial sporting event pursues an American debut, The Post has learned.
The funding round closed last week, Australian businessman Aron D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games, told The Post during a Monday interview. He declined to provide additional details on the fundraising.
“Getting the Trump name behind the Enhanced Games was a monumental effort,” D’Souza told The Post. “This is now a very American project.”
The first Enhanced Games will include events in track, swimming, weight lifting, “combat” and gymnastics, and will likely take place later this year in a “warm” US city “conducive to winter months,” D’Souza said.
“We wouldn’t have hosted the games in the United States if Biden was elected,” he said, noting the company was previously considering host cities overseas.
“Silicon Valley CEOs were by and large all Democrats until this election, and it was because of the Biden administration’s deep, deep antagonism towards innovation and technology,” D’Souza continued, specifically calling out the Democrat’s harsh stance on cryptocurrency.
The goal of the games – also backed by investors like Peter Thiel and Christian Angermayer – is to break world records by allowing athletes to dope up with almost any legally available performance-enhancing drugs, while paying them handsomely.
The Enhanced Games will require medical screenings, including cardiac and brain imaging and heart rhythm monitoring, according to its website.
The International Olympic Committee “are legacy incumbents that have a giant, multi-billion dollar, century-long monopoly and they’re afraid of competition,” D’Souza said. “The IOC has never had competition, and they’re very threatened by that.”
D’Souza said he expects the Enhanced Games to align better with the Trump administration – particularly the new secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The anti-vaccine politician, who survived a contentious nomination process, has admitted to using testosterone replacement therapy.
“He’s in his 70s and he’s doing pull-ups and going to the gym every day in a way that Joe Biden never could,” D’Souza said.
Alongside Don Jr., the Enhanced Games has significant star investor power – finding backers in crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan and Angermayer, a German billionaire with investments in biotech and psychedelics.
Thiel, venture capitalist billionaire and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is another investor with ties to the White House.
Thiel faced controversy after he funded the takedown of gossip news site Gawker, bankrolling wrestler Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the media company over his leaked sex tape. D’Souza led the litigation.
D’Souza, who has invested millions in the project and admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs himself, argued that alcohol is a far more damaging substance, citing a 15-year-old study.
While his games entice athletes to use drugs with hefty prizes — a $1 million bag for record-breakers in track and swim events, and a five- or six-figure upfront payment to participants — the Olympics similarly push dangerous substances, he said.
“The two drugs…are fast food and processed food, and those have done more damage to public health than any other substance in the totality of human history,” he said, referencing McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, two of Team USA’s longest-serving sponsors.
Just one athlete thus far, retired Australian Olympic swimmer James Magnussen, has publicly signaled his interest in participating after the group offered to pay him $1.5 million if he can shatter the 50 meter freestyle record.
“If they put up $1m for the 50 freestyle world record, I will come on board as their first athlete,” he told a sports podcast earlier this year.
“I’ll juice to the gills and I’ll break it in six months,” he added.
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