At the Enhanced Games, drugs don’t get athletes banned. They could get them rich.

OlympicsAt the Enhanced Games, drugs don’t get athletes banned. They could get them rich.The inaugural Games took place Sunday in Las Vegas, where aging Olympians competed for large payouts, most of them after having taken cocktails of performance-enhancing drugs.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Tristan Evelyn celebrates after winning the women's 100 meters, and a $250,000 prize, at the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas on Sunday. Evelyn, competing without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs, was one of just four athletes to compete "clean."Etienne Laurent / AFP via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 26, 2026, 6:00 AM EDTBy Andrew GreifLAS VEGAS — When Shania Collins was first approached about taking performance-enhancing drugs last year, it made her nervous enough to contact two members of the Drug Enforcement Administration — her parents. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Collins had enjoyed modest success as a sprinter, with contracts from Puma and Adidas. But by 2024, with her career stalled and earnings shrunk, she retired at 29 to begin a long screening process to follow her parents into working for the DEA. Then organizers of the Enhanced Games, a controversial sports startup, got in touch last fall with an offer. The organizers were planning a one-day competition of sprinting, swimming and weightlifting in Las Vegas that would not only allow but encourage doping. And it paid the kind of money that might take some athletes years to make — six-figure salaries, on top of prize money of up to $250,000 for event winners and $1 million for a world record.At first, Collins worried about the drugs’ effects and whether signing on could jeopardize her DEA career. She called her parents.“‘How would you feel about this?’” Collins asked. “And their stance really was ‘Is it illegal, is it safe, and is it prescribed?’ And once I let them know it’s legal, it’s prescribed...