Anti-doping is integral to clean sport, which is what makes 'Enhanced Games' so shameful

Late last month, I was deeply honoured to be re-elected for a final three-year term as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. I readily accepted that honour, with a deep sense of purpose and responsibility. I can think of no more important job in sport than the one carried out by Wada. Our mission is to lead a worldwide collaborative campaign for doping-free sport, and it is something we take extremely seriously.

Growing up in Poland, sport was a huge part of my life. Like a lot of children, I spent long hours with my friends playing all kinds of sports but eventually it was athletics – specifically sprinting – on which I concentrated. It was a tremendous honour for me, for my coaches, for my family and for my hometown when I was selected to represent Poland in the 400 metres sprint competition. In those days, I did not think much about doping but I knew one thing – I would never risk bringing shame on my name or my country by taking anything that was prohibited.

That is why the notion of the Enhanced Games is so abhorrent for us. For the uninitiated, this is a recently launched event that would allow athletes to use performance-enhancing substances without being subject to drug tests. In other words, it is a dystopian concept that seeks to normalise potentially dangerous drugs in sport. By offering financial inducements to susceptible athletes, it encourages them to take potent drugs in order to push their bodies beyond what the human form is capable. It is not merely controversial – it is irresponsible, and it is shameful. It threatens to erode decades of progress in athlete protection, public health and the very ethos of sport.

I think most sportspeople have the same conviction that such an event is unacceptable. Nobody grows up dreaming of winning a World Cup or an Olympic gold medal by cheating. They dream of being the best but not through deception. They imagine themselves as the fastest, the strongest, or the most skilful through natural ability and hard work, not by employing the services of a pharmacologist or unscrupulous doctor.

Winning by taking that kind of shortcut is not winning. A marathon is 42.2 kilometres long. Can someone who runs only 41.2 kilometres really claim to have completed it? Of course not. The same is true for those who take performance-enhancing substances or use prohibited methods.

There is nothing new in the desire of a small minority of people to want to push athletes by coercing them to take prohibited substances. We have seen this movie before, and it does not have a happy ending. Throughout history, we have seen the ill-effects these drugs can have on people. The short, medium and long-term health risks are real. People have died.

The Enhanced Games event was launched last month in the US, and its organisers have promised to stage it next year in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, so far, the authorities in the US have done nothing to stop this event from going ahead. In most countries, it would not have been possible because laws around the administration of controlled or illegal substances would mean an event like this simply could not be openly conducted. But for reasons that are not immediately clear, the US Anti-Doping Agency and other government bodies do not seem anxious to stand in the way.

However, it has been encouraging to see the rest of the world unite against this misguided experiment. Governments, national anti-doping organisations, sports and athletes have all come together to reject it – and rightly so. Working with such clean-sports partners around the globe, we will continue to monitor and respond to this threat with firmness and unity. This includes urging the authorities in the US to seek ways to prevent the Enhanced Games from going ahead as planned.

But this is just one of the issues we face. For the past five and a half years, Wada has been working hard for clean sport. Whether it was the politicisation of anti-doping, the problem of contamination or various attempts by people to cheat the system, it has been a period of challenges. But it has also been a time of resilience and progress. We look forward to building on that momentum and driving even greater success for the agency and the global anti-doping community in the years ahead.

Anti-doping today is a global movement – one that is strong, modern, accountable, independent and transparent. We follow the evidence – wherever it leads us – because we believe that it builds trust and encourages ethical behaviour while enabling open and honest communication.

With the support of our partners, including the UAE government and the national anti-doping organisation, we are energised by innovation, collaboration and the unwavering belief that clean sport matters. Rest assured that we will work harder than ever to protect the integrity of sport and the dreams of the most important stakeholder of all, the athletes.

Witold Banka is president of the World Anti-Doping Agency