The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games

How far can we push the limits of the human body? At the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, a few dozen athletes tried to find out, and The Verge's Victoria Song was there to watch. She tells us the story of the swimmers, weightlifters, and other athletes who competed, the intense training and drug regimens they underwent, and the complicated mix of pseudo-science and actual science behind the event. Then, she tells us where this project goes from here — because the Enhanced Games experiment is just beginning. Further reading: ⁠Roids were all the rage at the Enhanced Games⁠ ⁠What would you be willing to put in your body?⁠

You can listen to The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The grift and glory of the Enhanced Games is an episode from The Vergecast by Vox Media Podcast Network.

This episode is 43:49 long.

This episode was published on Jun 3, 2026.

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