'Valueless spectacle': World champion Evan Dunfee speaks out against Enhanced Games
Evan Dunfee's historic gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Japan is proving meaningful in ways he never imagined.
That's because after hearing O Canada from the top of the podium and collecting $70,000 US in prize money, the Richmond, B.C., race walker seized an opportunity brought about by his elevated profile to speak out on something he cares deeply about: ethical sport.
It all started with a social media message from someone who said they work for the Enhanced Games, congratulating Dunfee on his win and winner's cheque.
The Enhanced Games is a new billionaire-backed multi-sport venture with no rules around the use of performance enhancing drugs and no testing.
"To get a message from somebody ... mentioning their association with the Enhanced Games, thinking that I, of all people, wouldn't find that deplorable, was very interesting," said Dunfee, a KidSport ambassador and frequent school speaker.
His response to the overture on social media read in part:
"My message is that an athlete's value is in showing their communities that a dream, any dream, is worth chasing. That the pursuit of that dream is what transforms us as individuals for the better. The enhanced games are the antithesis of that message ... a valueless spectacle that jeopardizes the ability of clean athletes to inspire their neighbours."
'Doping to the gills'Dunfee said he is bothered by the Enhanced Games' pitch that it is pushing the envelope of sport science when what he believes organizers are really messaging is "doping to the gills and taking home bags of cash."
"Something like the Enhanced Games, where that moral contract is broken, it's no longer about achieving personal potential, it's about manufacturing yourself into something unhealthy, and potentially dangerous," he said.
One of Canada's pre-eminent sports physiologists feels the same.
Trent Stellingwerff, chief performance officer at the Canadian Sports Institute Pacific, said the Enhanced Games' promotion of no-holds-barred doping makes him think of professional wrestling.
"I joke that the WWE was like the beta version of this," said Stellingwerff. "There's at least two published studies I'm aware of where the life expectancy of those wrestlers — and there's a whole host of other reasons — is incredibly short. Eight to 16 per cent of them are dying before the age of 50."
Stellingwerff will be in Toronto next week for a sport science symposium featuring a presentation from the Enhanced Games CEO.
'Would you put your children in the Enhanced Games?'"I have some questions I hope to ask in a fair and collaborative way just to understand that when they talk about science, are they going to publish? What ethics committee would ever approve [unlimited doping]? What scientific journal are they going to put their research in?" he said.
"I want to ask the CEO next week, would you put your children in [the Enhanced Games]?"
By contrast, Stellingwerff said his focus is using modern knowledge in the best possible way while protecting and supporting athletes' long-term physical and mental health and happiness.
The Enhanced Games have garnered widespread condemnation. World Aquatics, the governing body for swimming, announced that any athlete, coach or official who participates in the games will be banned for life, while the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has called it a "dangerous clown show."
Perhaps ironically, the cheque Dunfee is cashing after 20 years of striving for a world title would have been smaller if not for the penalties assessed to dope cheat nations.
"World Athletics gold medal prize money is $70,000, which interestingly is elevated from $60,000 off of money that Russia had to pay as a fine for their historic doping issues," he said.
cbc.ca
