WEBVTT - A Vegas Buffet 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.000 It's the Summer Olympics in Paris twenty twenty four. There's 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.840 a swimmer competing that year, Hunter Armstrong, and Hunter does 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.919 well so well actually one gold, one silver, that his 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:25.560 swim sponsor comes to him with news. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.880 They told me while I was in Paris that they 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.680 were going to extend my contract and even give me 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:34.240 a raise. 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.400 It's Hunter's second Olympics and his second gold medal he 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.240 competed in Tokyo two and so after finding out about 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.239 his extended contract and pay raise, he figures he's been 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.919 a pro swimmer for long enough now, and with this 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:49.760 new raise. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.760 I made a decision to move back to Ohio and 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:58.080 build my life as an adult, and so I bought dogs, 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:03.680 I bought a house. A month or two after I 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.880 got back from Paris, I get a call from my 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.360 agent saying that the company that I was working with 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.800 decided that they are going to start doing more CrossFit, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:20.000 more like pickleball, and that this partner is not going 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:25.119 to work with me anymore. So I went from a 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:29.760 figure that was good enough to buy a house to 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:32.640 zero in a minute. 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.800 Whatever's going on with Hunter sponsor, with sports in general, 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.000 it's not personal, but the reality is he needs the money. 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.440 And something he's noticed ever since going pro, people can 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.800 get a bit presumptuous about his job, like the money 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:49.680 isn't the point. 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.480 You're doing it for your country. You're doing it because 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.160 you really want that gold. And I do love this sport, 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:01.360 but it's my job. If my job is not paying, 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.960 then I'm going to get a different job. I guess 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:12.480 people don't really think about professional athletes being. 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:18.040 You know, professional, and so Hunter started looking for other 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.440 ways to make money, and that's when he found out 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:21.960 about Enhanced. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.440 By the time he found out, his sponsor dropped him, 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.480 Hunter had already bought that house in Ohio. In fact, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:30.880 the pool he was going to for his daily training 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.480 was at Ohio State, where he'd gone to college. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.880 When I told them that I was even considering the 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:42.480 enhanced games, I was told by a coach, I won't 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.919 say which one. He does not want to see me 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:51.440 there until I make a decision, and if that decision 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.120 is enhanced, then he wants nothing to do with me. 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:56.800 How did that make you feel. 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.639 That's my co producer Lena, by the way, also on this. 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.799 Call horrible, I mean this was this is my alma mater. 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:09.560 Here's the thing about Hunter. Aside from being a pro athlete, 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.320 he's nothing like any of the other Enhanced Games athletes 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.040 you've met so far on this show. 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:15.639 That's because even. 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.680 Though Hunter was considering signing with the Enhanced Games, the 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.400 thing he wasn't considering doing at all was doping. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.639 I'd had several sit downs, and I'm like, according to this, 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:32.720 I'm not in violation of anything. We're good. But from 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:38.280 his side, if I were to have a violation, if 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.720 I were to get banned, it is against the rules 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:47.119 as a coach to train a banned athlete. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.200 Last summer, about a month after Enhanced officially announced their 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.560 plan to host the Games in Vegas. World Aquatics they're 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.680 the folks in charge of clean swimming and diving at 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.880 the international level, they added an amendment to their rule 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:02.600 book about athlete eligibility. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.400 Obviously, if you're a swimmer caught doping, you can't compete 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.960 in clean sport. For example, the Olympics. Doping equals no Olympics. 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:13.000 We know this. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.760 What World Aquatics added to the equation are caveats about 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.120 people benefiting financially from doping. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.040 But the new language in the rule book is written 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.320 with some ambiguity enough so that Hunter and his lawyer 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.360 think he's got a good case to make for competing 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.039 and enhanced and remaining in the Olympics pipeline, having his 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:35.560 cake and eating it too. Basically, Hunter's point is, as 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.360 long as he's been a pro swimmer, he's always made 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.440 himself available for drug testing, and he's never failed a 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:46.080 drug test. So even if he participates in enhanced, so 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.040 long as he remains available to world aquatics for drug tests, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:50.400 he should be able to do both. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.640 I mean, I have to tell them where I am 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.120 every hour of every day, and I've been doing that 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:05.400 since twenty twenty and so since I never left their site, 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.200 that's why we feel that I'm able to do both. 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.720 For the record, nobody has officially told Hunter he's right 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.480 on this one. Which is gonna say he hasn't asked. 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.000 He's asked multiple organizations multiple times. 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:23.200 They're all like, I can't give you an answer to that. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.599 I feel like nobody wants to be the guy to 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:28.960 say it. 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.240 Hunter is making a calculation, a career gamble. The way 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.520 he sees it, he's basically out of options. At least 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.520 this way he's getting paid if he wins his events 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.760 at the Enhanced Games, he'll make one of the biggest 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:43.839 paychecks of his life. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:49.200 If you're gonna ban me, then this is what I 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.120 have to do to survive. So if I'm known for 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.960 the rest of my life as a doper, it's fine. 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.120 I wasn't still am not. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.679 There are indications that his argument's going to hold. For instance, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.720 I asked Hunter how soon after officially announcing he was 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.160 going to swim for enhance, did drug tests show up 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:08.840 at his front door. 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.360 I kid you not. Next morning? 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.039 Wow, say more about that. 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.880 I hate him so much. They they show up at 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:28.080 the most inconvenient times on purpose. I didn't get back 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:32.039 to my house until probably three am. They showed up 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:33.960 at like five or six. 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.080 After his coach at Ohio State drew the line at 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.640 Enhanced Hunter ended up at a local YMCA. He says, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:43.080 the pool there is not great. 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:49.080 Plus I do feel horrible when I'm racing next to 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:53.280 a sixty year old doing water aerobics. Why oh, I'm 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:59.240 splashing them. It's very much like the kid who peaked 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:04.800 in high school showing that he's better. Because these guys 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.880 are just going for fun and to stay healthy, and 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.600 I feel like their perspective is that I'm putting on 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:16.560 a show, Like, hey, guys, look how fast I can swim. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.520 The thing is the guy can swim pretty fast. He's 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.920 a backstroke specialist, and he kind of is putting on 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.160 a show or he's preparing to anyway. This phone call 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.960 you're hearing, it's from a couple months ago, the beginning 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:29.480 of April. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.520 Now fast forward to the third week in Man to 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:36.040 a giant and temporary sporting arena on the Las Vegas Strip, 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.160 and for Hunter Armstrong and every other athlete competing at 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.040 the Enhanced Games, it's showtime. 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.360 From Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast. This is Superhuman. I'm your host, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:49.720 Chris GUYMMI. 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:50.440 And I'm Sam Egan. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.480 We are in beautiful Las Vegas. It's almost eleven am 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:07.800 and already hot as shit. It's the morning of May 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.320 twenty fourth. Sam, Lena and I are an innuber headed 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.760 to the Games. In anticipation of the day ahead. Lena 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.600 and Sam are exchanging sun block for some reason. All 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.760 three of us are wearing black pants, even though it's 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.000 ninety five degrees out. Truth is, none of us know 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:25.720 how to dress for the doping Olympics. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:30.320 Here we are. It's yeah, what are you saying? It's 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.480 I mean, be honest, it looks not done hot. It's 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:34.880 really hot. 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:35.480 Hi, how are you? 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:38.520 It's incredibly warm. 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:40.760 We're gonna try and cool it on the weather commentary, 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.520 but it's extremely important to keep in mind that for 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.040 the entire day, at least one of us is always 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:47.360 complaining about the heat. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.120 I really don't understand why enhances settled on outside in 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.000 the desert as the best place to break multiple world 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:54.880 records for sports? 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.760 Can it be makeshift and state of the art at 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.760 the same time, not a bad way to describe. 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:01.920 I think what we're looking at. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.960 The layout of the actual competition area is pretty interesting. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.000 In the center of it is a four lane pool, 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:13.200 there's a one hundred meter track, and then there's like 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:17.160 a little elevated platform area where the weightlifters presumably are 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:21.280 going to be lifting heavy stuff. A reminder, there aren't 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.360 any normal fans at the games. You can't just like 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.120 buy a ticket and fly here to see it. The 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.520 entire event is invite only, and the venue is packed 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:35.120 with influencers, family members of the athletes, businessmen cozying up 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:36.120 to Enhanced. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:38.599 When we three are standing in line, waiting to be 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.880 brought into the actual venue along with other members of 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.199 the press. A guy walks up to us with two 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.679 of his buddies. He says, hey, I sell peptides. You 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:47.480 want to interview me? 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:49.439 It's actually kind of cool, So. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.800 Finally we're let in. The side of the venue we're 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:54.920 set up on is like if a cruise ship had 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.240 just stocked there, and there are dozens of small, exposed 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.760 state rooms overlooking the field and pool accept no walls. 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:04.920 The Press is put in one of those rooms, which 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.640 is nice in some ways. It's stocked with bottles of 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:12.160 water and pellegrino. There's shade, electrical outlets, and a ton 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:17.040 of food. Fancy food, apercheep cheeses served with cured meats 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:18.120 and bean dips. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.920 Although because of the heat, the cheeses keep collapsing and 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:22.920 melting into each other in the two or so minutes 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.120 it takes the caterers to bring it to us, which 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:26.680 makes it pretty hard to actually eat. 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.760 The rest of the food is coursed out gaspacho with watermelon, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.280 mini lobster rolls, jumbo shrimp, cocktail. 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.840 Wagu sliders, vegan broughtwurst, and polish sausages. 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:41.640 Carnitas and al pastor. There's dim sum, shoe My dumplings, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.719 pork buns, and spicy wantons. 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.360 What we lack in access access to the athletes, to 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.600 the other attendees at the games, Enhanced makes up for 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.880 it in catered food, which is to say a lot. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.520 At one point, Lena and I leave the press area 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.760 to walk around a bit before the game starts, just 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.280 to see who else is there, and we see a guy. 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.480 Lena thinks she knows, so we walk up. It's all, well, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.880 I'm immediately one of Enhanced press team walks over to 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:13.600 show us a wedding. 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.960 I think I have to shut this down. I'm sorry, 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:18.120 you're good, I'm sorry. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.360 We stand around awkwardly for another ten or so minutes, 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.120 the press team still watching us. Some of the guests 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.400 the off limit ones. I recognize them. There's people who 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.000 work out professionally on TikTok or YouTube, but we're told 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:33.440 we're not supposed to talk to them. 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:35.800 I feel like I'm a Coachella huh. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.520 Finally, we just decided to go back to the press 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.640 area where we're actually allowed to be. 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:42.480 I thought that was Kate McKinnon. 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:44.800 I don't know who Kate McKinnon is. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.360 Yes, you do. She was on sl for like ten years. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:50.600 I'm not an SNL guy. 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:52.800 I'm sorry, I'm not an SNL girl. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:54.840 I'm just aware of the zeitgeist. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.600 As I put her around waiting for the games to start, 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:00.760 I happen on an influencer that I reckon, and for 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.400 whatever reason, he's game to talk to. Day Egan, Sammy Egan, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.800 Jesse and Jesse James West is a fitness content creator 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.840 with a few million followers on Instagram. He's standing in 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.840 the corner of the arena next to the blue carpet. 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.920 You get it, like red carpet, but blue because that's 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.760 enhanced color. Jesse's got a camera guy following him and 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.280 he's holding a loaf mic. So you're obviously not coming from, 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.640 like I guess, a journalism background. Your market, Okay, this 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.440 influencers side. I think many journalistic things like this is. 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:32.200 Jesse explains he's here for a story he's working on 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.800 about the enhanced games, specifically about what a good idea 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:36.160 it is. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.520 When I look for content, when I look for making 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.720 viral videos. If someone was to say, hey, we have 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.520 this idea, we can make you an awesome video. If 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.360 we got a bunch of people that are on gear 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.120 peptides or steroids to come in and compete, I'd be like, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.080 that is the best idea I've ever heard of. Like 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.880 when it comes to putting your health first, it seems 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.440 to be the trend, and it's a positive trend. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.720 Jesse stops for a second to pull out his phone. 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.520 He says he's gonna enhanced co founder Christian Ingermyer see 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.800 where he is. You got Christian's personal number A lot 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.120 of I think a lot of members of the press don't. 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.480 I'm getting curious. You know, why do you think the 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.360 new wave of the press, like the influencer journalism, Why 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.240 do you think that that is taking over? 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.400 I think we were and I mean this in no 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.040 disrespect at all. I think we were quicker. It's so 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:25.840 much more. It's so immediate what we can do, Like 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.200 I'm gonna be posting multiple tiktoks in the next few 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.640 hours of this event that we'll get a lot of views, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.760 and then my long form video will take maximumly two. 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.640 Weeks, Jesse says. Compared to him pressed like us move 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:39.640 like stales, which okay. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.040 Finders, I'm not somebody who ever tries to like fuck 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.520 people over, you know, because it's just gonna hurt the 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:45.520 next relationship. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:47.800 What he means is he's not trying to fuck over 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.800 Enhanced by reporting anything negative about because that'll make it 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.319 harder for him to report on other people. Enhanced is 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:58.080 at all connected to and look in my regular life, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:13:59.960 where I'm just a guy out on a Saturday grab 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.040 drinks of friends. Also, I don't try to be overly probing, 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.200 not because it'll make my friends dislike me. More like, 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.360 I just think things go better in the world when 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.680 none of us are intentionally being dicked. But that's not 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:13.320 what journalists. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:15.640 We have algorithms that if we figure. 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.600 It out anyway. At this moment, Jesse pulls away from me. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.600 Christian Anger Myers just arrived at Jesse Summer. I just 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.360 got bumped out of the way for this influencer of 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:31.560 the interview, Christian anger Meyer. They talk for maybe twenty minutes. 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.520 When I ask Christians Handlers for my turn with him, 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:37.400 they tell me I can have five. He's the same 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.320 old Christian basically saying to me the same things he's 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.560 told me before. You What do you think is necessary 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.080 to define today as a success? What do you what 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:46.320 do you think needs to happen out there? 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.000 We have to break world records, and I think we will. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.520 My guess is like two to five, two to four 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:52.680 world records. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.280 There's another metrics by which Christian measure success. 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.320 It's how many sort of fuse we have in socialist 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.480 or whatever, and it's going in the billions. So and 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:01.960 that's what I would have told you two weeks ago. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.480 I'm maybe happy, even because we spoke before that. I 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.080 think I will be very happy if all in all 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.200 we have like a billion fuse and I think we 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.680 have that already before the game, So that's gonna That's 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:12.880 why I'm happy. 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.120 If even half of the guests invited have a following 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.760 close to Jesse's the influence wer I was just talking to, 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:20.920 then I guess, yeah, Christian might get his billion views. 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.240 It's a bit of a challenge to fact check, of course, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.200 but those billion views they underline something you really wouldn't 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.800 know unless you're there at the games, which is that 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.480 for the rest of the day, the stands are kind 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.440 of empty. Maybe it's the heat or the free drinks 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.480 and food, but until we leave it around midnight, one 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.240 thing remains true. There's more people mingling behind the stadium 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.920 than actually watching the games. Still, inevitably, the games begin 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:53.080 across three different categories, weightlifting, track and swimming. For the 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:58.000 first stretch, it's weightlifting women snatch. One by one, athletes 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.360 walk up onto a very sunny stage, squat down and 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:02.360 grip the loaded barboe. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.280 Wow, she's got it, she's got a fight, she's got 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:06.160 a fight, she's up. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.720 Oh great attempt. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.400 Nobody comes close to breaking a world record. Weightlifter after 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.360 weightlifter comes on stage. 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.680 Yeah, oh oh wow, surprising, very surprising. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.360 What went wrong? Actually, only a few even try to 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.120 break world records. There are some personal bests and plenty 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.000 of prize money won, because remember, athletes get paid up 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.160 to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for coming in 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.840 first and fifty thousand dollars for placing fourth. So plenty 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.720 of happy weightlifters and swimmers and track stars. But world records, 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:42.640 world records, there are not. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:50.520 He's so close, the defeat is so painful. 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.200 On the jumbo screen above the stage, each athlete's performance 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.000 is presented the same way, their name, their personal best, 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:00.360 and the world record. 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.640 I will say my opinion is that because they keep 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:09.080 projecting what the world record is. Seeing someone that you 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:14.560 know is on drugs not coming close to it kind 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.439 of makes me feel like, oh, that's extra unimpressive. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.119 As the day beats on something that, to be honest, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:26.000 we're really not expecting starts to happen. Hunter Armstrong, the 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.359 enhanced swimmer who isn't enhanced. He's on the edge of 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.360 the pool ready to dive in for the fifty meters 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.960 back show, competing against swimmers who are enhanced. 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:38.359 Hunter one. 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.600 The athletes who haven't dope keep eating the athletes who have, 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.440 and it keeps happening, Like at the women's one hundred 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.200 meter sprint, what it means for her a non enhanced athlete, 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.960 second non enhanced athlete we've seen win in these events, 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.120 and at the men's one hundred meter sprint, unenhanced athletes 0:17:59.200 --> 0:17:59.920 keep taking the top. 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.320 This is it, ladies and gentlemen, this is a moment. 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.080 Quite literally, we have all been waiting. 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:05.920 For one of them. 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:10.120 Fred Curley. Folks actually are expecting him to win, maybe 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:11.160 even beat the world record. 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.880 Wait, Fred Curly. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:25.959 But when it's time for his race and false starts 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.680 keep forcing him and the other runners to start over again. 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:39.679 It's a false start. Second time, another false start. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.720 Frustration is beauty. 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:47.960 In total, it took three tries to actually complete the sprint, and. 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:49.840 It's a clean start. 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:56.000 Curly Matati in two and four coming down the stretch, Curly, it's. 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:56.720 Gonna take it. 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.280 And Curly's gonna come in with a time up at 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:01.520 nine point. 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.720 Nine eight, and Curly did win. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.639 Not the results that he was looking for in terms 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.960 of the time, but the outcome in terms of his 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:10.120 placement is. 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.800 Still the same, which means he walked away two hundred 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:14.720 and fifty thousand dollars. 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:16.680 Richard, will you look disappointed? 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.080 You saw that, A lot of false stars, a lot 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:20.639 of jumping. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:22.359 They gotta do better than that. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.120 Do you think if it would have gone our first 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:25.120 time you could have had a shot. 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.919 I'm ready to run five, but no world record. And 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.679 Megan Romana, who came out of retirement to compete in 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:36.359 the Games, God, Meghan looks fucking shreddedy. She wins one 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.680 of her races, the one hundred meter free. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.399 Meghan, congratulations the winner of that race. Two hundred and 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:44.639 fifty thousand dollars. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:46.199 You are raised. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.760 I mean, looking at Shaite, she's in it. 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.120 Was a personal best for Megan and after ten years 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.760 of retirement. Really impressive. I mean, but it certainly wasn't 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:55.800 a world record. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.560 In the fifty meters butterfly, a race that includes Andre 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.960 Govra from Ukraine and Ben Proud from the UK. 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.760 Oh so close, I thought he had it. 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:09.119 What a bizarre race. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:11.960 Ben Proud does swim at twenty two point three to 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.040 two point zero five seconds, shy of the world record, 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.320 which does make him two hundred and fifty thousand dollars richer, 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:26.440 Still no world record. In the late afternoon, the biohacker 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.720 Brian Johnson slides into the commentary booth, holding up an 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.440 umbrella to block the sun. Enhanced CEO Max Martin posts 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.199 a photo to his Instagram stories of him and the 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.680 DJ Diplow hanging out in one of the suites, but 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.000 front and center on the track in the pool by 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.960 the waits. They can't seem to break a world record. 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.080 Not that the influencers seem to care. Throughout the day, 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.719 they walk around making content. Very little of that content 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.280 features the enhanced games. It's more like content of the 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:01.760 influencers who happen to be at the enhanced games. It 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.199 you know, those museums of ice cream, which pop up 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.440 all over America, specifically so people can go and take 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.840 pictures to put on Instagram in a pool of sprinkles 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:15.199 or inside an ice cream sandwich. The Enhanced games are 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.359 like a museum of ice cream, except instead of a 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.879 pool of sprinkles, it's a pool of Olympians. 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.760 My favorite moment when a group of teen boys wanders 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.080 into the center of the arena by the pool and 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:29.119 film each other laughing and dancing like they're in the 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.000 video game Fortnite. Well, a literal swim race is held 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:37.080 of these are safe, they really are, like, they really 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:39.840