WEBVTT - The Protocol 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.040 It's just before midnight on February twenty eighth, twenty twenty six. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:17.759 The enhanced athletes are staying at a hotel in Abu 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:21.439 Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. That's where they're spending 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.440 the months leading up to the games training and taking 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.000 their performance enhancing drugs. The first time the alarms go off, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:30.680 Megan Romano's up in her room with her girlfriend. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.720 It wasn't night when it started, like when shit hit 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:34.960 the fan. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:36.040 It was definitely at night. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.080 You get like this alarm and it sounds like crazy loud. 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:41.960 It's like Ray. 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:49.360 Ray Ray Ben Proud and his girlfriend, Emily Barclay, she's 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.080 also a swimmer with enhanced They just wrapped around in 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.400 medical testing at a nearby hospital, just walked back into 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:55.880 the hotel. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.000 Suddenly this really aggressive alarm goes off on off phone, 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.760 and then two seconds later we hear these pops outside 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:08.080 just outside a window, and we opened the curtains and 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.040 there's these lines of smoke going up into this little 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.679 ball of ball of smoke right in front of that window. 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.800 So we checked the news and saw that UAE was 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:22.640 you know, had been fired up by Iran. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.760 Earlier that day. The United States and Israel conducted their 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.800 first round of military strikes against Iran. Hours later, Irun 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.800 launched retaliatory missiles at various US allies in the Middle East. 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:38.319 The Ministry of Defense of the UAE says the United 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.200 Emirates was subjected today to a brazen attack with Iranian 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:43.319 ballistic missiles. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.679 This is an unprecedented attack by Iran on what it 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.120 says are US military targets across Gulf nations. 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.680 So basically where I am when my hotel room is 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:00.720 if you look out straight about ten out this way 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.080 is the US Al Dafra base, which is where these 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.440 rockets are heading to. And so we are literally just 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.960 caught in the crossfires of whatever's going on. And then 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:12.480 that's curious as we look out the window and we 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.079 see these three rockets just launch from across the water here, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:27.440 and that sets the panic. And so at that point 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.960 we get ourselves into bathroom, we hunker down for a bit, 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.400 and we just ye, we let our bodies settle. 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.440 I'm from Florida, so I've been through like crazy thunderstorms. 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.520 It just sounds like the loudest thunder I think I've 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.639 ever heard. We're like the windows were shat like shaking. 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.359 It sounded like the missile like landed on my balcony. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.600 At least one of the enhanced athletes, Andregovov from Ukraine, 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.760 he's got plenty of experience with war, so other athletes 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.040 been included. They turn it him. 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.720 We kind of stick Andre and we're just trusting what 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.000 he says, and he kind of knows how to handle it. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.600 What was Andrea's like sort of advice to you. 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.079 You know, finding the hard concrete walls and places away 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.720 from windows, you know, no glass around you. He was 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:19.960 basically scouting this hotel to find safe places. He was, 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.240 you know, telling us to keep our passports in hand 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:28.920 just in case of evacuations. And he gave us money, 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:30.520 you know, just in case. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.560 Specifically, Andrea's handing out us dollars he knows in active 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:42.200 war zones, as infrastructure collapses, digital transfers stop processing. Same 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:46.480 goes for ATMs in situations like this, the more cash 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.040 you got, the safer you are. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.520 I just hope it doesn't get worse, because like I'm 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.000 getting woken up every night on the dot. I don't 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:54.800 know what it is with Iran, but like they're like 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.320 at four point thirty on the Dot and then like 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.920 seven and the boom are getting louder. And that's the 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.840 thing too, is like if we're on these enhancements, like 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.920 it doesn't matter if we're on enhancements. If we're not 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:09.200 getting proper sleep. 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:16.120 From Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts, this is superhuman. I'm Chris 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:24.919 guy Amali. A month before those first missile strikes, I 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.640 visited the enhanced athletes in Abu Dhabi. They're staying at 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.359 what used to be a recreational military base for the 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:35.880 UAE Armed Forces. These days, it's a luxury hotel called 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.680 Earth without the A. There's a big fancy gym, but 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.360 the enhanced weightlifting team is working out in a small 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.159 converted weighting area where weight stations are set up. I 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.680 think they're listening to Bad Bunny right now. And for 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.440 the swimmers, of course a pool. Andre and Ben are 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.320 in the water yacking at the other side of the pool. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.880 Ben looks it's much bigger than last time. There's a 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.960 huge fancy cafeteria here, also a private beach, paddle courts, 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.640 and an enormous soccer pitch. The guy who designed Earth 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.880 wanted it to resemble a falcon in flight, and weirdly, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.600 it absolutely does. Most of the Enhanced team was living 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.080 and training there, just a twenty minute drive from the 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.920 medical facility where the athletes got their drugs and were 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:28.719 subsequently studied. One of the chief doctors overseeing the Enhanced 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.919 study is doctor Guido Pilis, a cardiologist. He told me, 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.880 because athletes using performance enhancing drugs are almost always doing 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.000 so in secrecy, that means no doctors, no help determining 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.880 the right dosages, no guidance on how long to use them. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.279 For what he and Enhanced are seeking. It's like the 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.560 goldilocks of these particular drugs, the perfect dosage that delivers 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:56.120 tangible results without the long term negative consequences. Why is 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.440 this necessary, here's doctor Pelis. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:03.960 Firstly, it's because we have very little data. Although everyone 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:08.080 has an opinion about enhancement and athletes, this is not 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.680 fully backed up as signs, I have to say. But 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.720 if you compare what we have in science to other areas, 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.360 then we haven't done our homework. And that's why really welcome. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.640 I take his point. Why he'd want to actually study 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.680 how steroids work on relatively healthy populations if there's a 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.880 way to use them effectively and safely. We should know that, 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:29.920 and if there is an effective dosage for healthy people, 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:31.520 we should know what that is. 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:33.119 Drug sit will be taken. 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.120 What I keep thinking about, what about the athletes competing 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.080 in the Enhanced Games who aren't participating in the study. 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.400 As a rule, enhance isn't making anyone stick to a 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.320 particular drug regimen, Nor are they testing for which drugs 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:50.640 non participating athletes may have taken. So are the athletes 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.839 who are outside of it? Are you guys testing them 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.400 too for the stuff that's banned? No, we're not, Max 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.240 Martin again, CEO of Enhanced. 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.479 Look of the approaches. The law is the law, and 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.760 adults are our adults, and within what the law is 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.680 an adults should be able to take a decision for 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:09.640 themselves and what they want and want not to do. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.040 We are not the law enforcement agency. So similarly to 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:15.680 whether we could test them whether they are taking a 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.400 substance like tremblone, where do you draw the line? Right, 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.000 We are not going to test the athletes and whether 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.000 they're taking cocaine, whether they're taking you know, whether they're 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.240 smoking weed in a jurisdiction, whether they're not supposed to 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.120 be smoking weed. That is the law enforcement job. That's 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:29.760 not our job. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.520 There's something here that makes me feel I don't know nervous. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.840 Enhances working so hard to assure us that their studies 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:41.200 the drugs are prescribing that it's all safe. But theoretically 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.720 anyone competing in the games could be taking anything they want, 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:49.480 whether or not they're participating in the study. Basically, enhances 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:51.440 relying on an honor system. 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:53.520 What we are looking to do is have the athletes 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.200 disclose to us and represent to us that truthfully what 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:02.040 they're taking, and then with testing them to figure out 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.680 whether they're healthy and safe to compete so that there's 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.600 no abuse of legal substances, right, because even if a 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.200 substance is legal, you can still abuse it to make 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:10.880 it unhealthy. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.920 Something you might be wondering, why is Abu Dhabi where 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.520 enhancedent their athletes Anyway, I asked Max that very question 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.520 to start. The laws and regulations about the drug part 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.800 of all of this are a lot more laxed there 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.440 compared to the US. Plus, according to Enhanced, Abu Dhabi 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.240 is particularly interested in this specific study identifying the pros 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:37.000 and cons of performance enhancing drugs. The UAE tends to 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:41.160 do this, spend a lot of money on or host big, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.680 splashy sporting events. They own more than one pro soccer team, 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:49.280 and they spend billions on huge turnout sports like UFC 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.880 and Formula one. The general vibe of what Enhances up 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.640 to totally in their bag of tricks. Labs of doctors 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.880 are set up in Abu Dhabi to consult directly with 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.440 athletes under their drug use and track whatever side effects 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:03.120 they experience. 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:07.439 We look at imagings of their brains, their organs, their heart, 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.160 We do testing of their blood. They's aliva, the urine, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.640 and all of these things impact what kind of recommendation 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.000 athletes gets for a protocols. 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.760 Just a reminder the protocols, what enhance calls, each regimen 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.439 for their athletes, everyone's specific cocktail of drugs. Max says. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.079 The point of collecting all this data is to help enhance, 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.760 package safe, and affect the programs for everyone else. The 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:35.120 people actually buy their performance enhancing drugs from them, and 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.400 what specifically are the drugs Megan Ben and the rest 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.760 of the Enhanced crew are using. That's a million dollar question, 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.360 or maybe even the billion dollar question considering who Enhanced 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:50.800 investors are to be sure. At first we were told 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:55.280 no problem, we'd have total access to everything, the drugs, dosing, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.160 the types of needles, all of it. Over time though, 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.480 they've gone bit more buttoned up. In fact, they've explicitly 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.200 told the athletes they can't disclose what they're being given. 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.880 What Max has said is they're not trying out anything 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:15.480 new or experimental. Rather, they're working within the parameters of 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:20.000 what's already considered a performance enhancing drug to figure out basically, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.680 what are the limits of what a person can take 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.359 where the good the benefits outweigh the bad the side effects. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.920 He says, the drugs all fall into one of four 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:31.920 main categories. 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.440 One are anabolic steroids, which includes like testosterone. Then there 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.400 are metabolgodulators, say for example, meldonium, which is a substance 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.160 that helps you with your energy efficiency and improves your endurance. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.800 Then there are regulated peptides, so peptides that are already. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.760 Approved approved by the FDA he means, the Food and 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:52.760 Drug Administration, not the ones that you. 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.280 Know people are buying from China. And then last these 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.160 stimulants like adoro and medefinite, etc. 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.200 Okay, so a lot of drugs to help us wrap 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.240 our heads around Max's four groups. My producer Sam calls 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:08.439 up doctor Katie Rizzoni. She's in sports medicine and orthopedics, 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:14.800 specifically focused on NCUBA athletes, so college athletes plus pro 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.600 level and world champion athletes too. Max said, the first 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.280 group of drugs are steroids, and so Sam starts with 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:22.960 the basics. 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.040 What is a steroid? 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:35.120 Basically, a steroid is going to mimic hormonal pathways. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:35.120 In the body. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:41.160 Pretty quickly, the basics get a complicated, but doctor Rizzoni says, basically, 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:43.560 it's lab made to sasterone. 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:43.440 Got it? 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:43.960 And what does it? 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.440 What does it do to the the to the body. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:51.120 It's gonna make it easier to build muscle mass. Therefore 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.559 you're going to be stronger. Were people using steroids in 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:55.160 those days? 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:55.439 Oh? 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.760 Sure, some used them, some didn't use I mean it's 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.079 very hot always did you take for example? Steroid use 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.559 has historically been common in the bodybuilding community. Back in 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.439 nineteen eighty five, Arnold Schwarzenegger was grilled about steroids on 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:10.120 David Letterman. 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:11.560 Did you ever use them yourself? 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:11.720 Oh? 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:17.280 Sure, yeah, in addition to making you stronger, doctor Riizoni says, 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.240 steroid seem to quicken recovery. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.920 As an athlete, you could train longer and harder and 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.440 that damage right. Anytime you train, you break muscle, you 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.600 chair muscle, you break bone, and so it helps those 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.080 to heal back faster. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.480 And with millions of dollars in sponsorships, salaries, and ticket 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.120 sales on the line, the faster athletes swing back, the better. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.680 So that's drug group one. Drug two on Max's list 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:48.360 metabolic modulators, basically drugs that change how your body makes, uses, 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.080 or saves energy. Usually they're prescribed for people with heart 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.760 problems or diabetes. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.520 So like athletes will give themselves insolent, like what a 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.320 diabetic would you, because you're trying to get sugar or 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.719 glucose into your cells so that your cells can have 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:07.160 more fuel to do things. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:12.480 Another group on Max's list stimulants. These you probably. 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:17.640 Know things like adderall retolin. Caffeine is a stimulant. 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.679 Stimulants raise your heart and breathing rate. They make you 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.480 feel more alert, more confident. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.480 You know, there's a reason that in the eighties there 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.199 was a lot of athletes ahead of cocaine. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:26.480 Problem. 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.040 It's a stimulant, you know, I mean it probably does 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.360 enhance performance. It helps with attention, it helps with energy. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.520 You probably feel less pain. You're able to push through 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.080 pain barriers, or you will probably push your mental barriers. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.839 Famous example soccer player Diego Maradona, who at the nineteen 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.959 to eighty four World Cup tests a positive for, among 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:47.920 other things, phaedrin. 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.839 But subsequently was revealed to be a cocktail of five 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.480 different fan substances. 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.360 For what it's worth, Maradona denied it to the end. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.200 I have given fee for the opportunity to reconsider their 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:07.040 decision because I believe it to be totally unjust. I 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.040 have suffered a lot on my own and I promised 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:15.720 my daughters I would not cry. I'm not crying. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:25.680 And finally, peptides, the kinds of peptides the athletes are using. 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:30.080 They're supposed to help with recovery and hormone production. We 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:34.000 think we don't really know what they do, Doctor Katie Rizzoni. 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.480 Again, peptides are kind of like they're made up of 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.200 amino acids. Amino Acids are like the building blocks of proteins. 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:44.040 You need proteins to get stronger, you need proteins for recovery. 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:49.160 Proteins are essential to high performance, so theoretically they could 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:55.960 be filling in deficiencies that could help with overall performance 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.320 and elite athletes when they are training. Then I think 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.200 that's why people are interested in them, but we don't well, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:01.520 we haven't proven that yet. 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.280 The thing about peptides, doctor Rizzoni says, they're still pretty 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.240 new on the performance enhancing scene. They're easy to get, 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.280 but what they actually do, we're still working that part out. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:16.560 They probably have influence on inflammation, cell recovery, you know, 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:21.200 muscle masks, so I don't know if they'd necessarily proven 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.240 then in humans yet, but those theoretically could. 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.120 Be the benefits either way. Most peptides are banned in 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:32.520 conventional sport, in part because using them seems unfair against 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.320 the spirit of sport, as IOC and WATA often say, 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.440 but also because we really don't know how safe they are. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.160 After the war breaks out, our communication with the enhanced 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:52.560 athletes training in Abu Dhabi grows understandably sporadic. But what 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.040 does that mean about how it's going over there. I'm 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.000 picturing chaos conson alerts, the rumbles and booms of an 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:01.360 in missiles. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.440 But after the initial shock wears off, things for Team 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.880 Enhanced grow a bit well boring. Originally, the athlete's enhancement 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.200 protocol was meant to last for about twelve weeks. Now 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.680 that day keeps getting pushed back. No one knows exactly why, 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:20.680 and the athletes are growing antsy. Something's up, Megan Romano again. 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.640 And no one's really sure like what it is. We 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.000 don't know if we're waiting on a signature. And I 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.200 don't even think it's the missiles or the war that's 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.040 like lagging. I think is Oh, you don't think so? 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:30.800 That was my theory. 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.640 I don't think so, because before the war even started, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.400 we were still waiting on something, Like I don't know. 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.160 There's just like a lot of parts that we don't 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:42.840 know about that's happening behind the scenes. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.000 Megan says. The athletes keep thinking they're about to officially 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.720 begin their drug protocols, but when that day comes, they 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:51.640 just don't. 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.040 So when they tell us now, like you're getting them 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.040 on Friday, you're getting them on Monday, I don't even 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.400 believe it. I'm like, okay, until like the needle's like 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.560 end my ass, Like I don't believe shit. 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.639 Later, in a press conference, CEO Max Martin says the 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:10.000 delays are because of the war in part, but also 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.159 he says there's just everyday bureaucracy stuff to deal with, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.840 too red tape for the athletes, though it feels like 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:17.639 it's taking forever. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.080 Yeah, with all the frustration that was going on in 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:25.480 terms of delays and waiting and you know, uncertainty, we 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.640 were so focused on those emotions rather than the emotions 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.320 of what we're about to get into. So it kind 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.880 of just it came as a big shock in terms 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:35.960 of it came really quickly. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.800 On March twelve, about two weeks after those drone strikes 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.520 you heard earlier in the episode, and just eight weeks 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.960 before they needed to be back in the United States, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.480 the athletes find out that for real, this time, they're 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.160 going to start the protocol. The next morning, it hit 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:53.040 me like a train. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.160 I was like, shit, this is this is happening. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.840 Ben Prowd's feeling anxious. His girlfriend Emily is already asleep, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:04.760 which means it's probably too late to reach out to 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:06.360 any of his other teammates too. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:08.439 And there was no one will wait for me to 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.080 talk to. I just I called my brother and I 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.400 was like, Oliver, I'm terrified. 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.960 Oliver reminds him, it's okay. They've already talked this over, 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.080 prepared for this exact feeling. 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:20.600 You know, I was always going to feel like this. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.960 You know, to the world, I retired in September, tenth 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.960 of September. But to me, I don't retire until take 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.399 that injection. In reality, nothing has stopping me from turning 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.480 back and going back to my normal life until I 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.719 start the protocol, you know, until I inject myself as 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:41.720 something that I'm not allowed to inject with. 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.760 The athletes spend the next day in a waiting room 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.120 at the hospital. One by one, they're caught up by name, 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:49.840 taken to another room. 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.239 You go in, and about ten minutes later you come 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.040 back and you are an enhanced athlete. And so for 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:57.720 every person who came back with I'd be like a 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.600 big cheer and like, you know, congratations, like a big moment. 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.600 Most of them were like buzzing and excited and like, 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.040 you know, this is you know, officially enhanced. You know, 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.600 that was the thing that everyone was saying. 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.919 Ben, though he's not buzzing. For him, this moment is 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.600 goodbye to his entire career in clean sport. 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.760 You know, I just wanted to be, you know, not 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.840 hanging my head in Shane. But I was like, I 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.800 just I just want to be alone with Emily, and 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.879 you know, I just want to Yeah, the emotions at 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:31.520 the time, but just got the better of me. 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.320 I want to stop here for a second and explain something. 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.080 We don't actually know what any of the enhanced athletes 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.720 are taking the details of their protocol. Sure, we know 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:52.399 the four categories of drugs, but that's it. One of 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.359 the reasons I went to Abu Dhabi in the first 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.360 place was to spend time in the room where it happens. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.640 I wanted to be with the athletes when they found 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.680 out the ingredients for their individual cocktails, the specific list 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.480 of drugs. I wanted to see the injections, watch how 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:12.560 it worked. And for months en Hans said, yeah, no problem. 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.439 But just before I left, Enhance walked that back in 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:17.720 an email there comms. 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.240 The rector wrote, due to health privacy laws and ordinances 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.879 in both the UAE and hipparegulations in the US, no 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:27.800 journalist or camera is permitted in with athletes during their 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:32.639 doctor consultations or if they choose enhancements. Sorry, that's entirely 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:33.280 off limits. 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:38.080 Later, the athletes were instructed by enhanced not to discuss 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.560 any specifics with the press either. Megan says the new 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.680 rules make it harder to talk about what drugs she's 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:46.480 doing in Abu Dhabi. She wishes she could at least 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.440 say the names of the drug she's taking. 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.639 Not dosages, but at least like what we're taking, because 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.280 it's just easier for us as athletes, because you know, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.919 that's what everyone wants to know. Of course, So I 0:20:57.960 --> 0:20:59.720 don't know at some point if we're going to be 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.560 able to talk about it, but I guess like that 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.560 kind of shifted recently, But. 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.000 That doesn't stop us from asking anyway. Is it like 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.960 going to be like an oral injected, like you know what, 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:11.760 Like how are you going to have to take it? 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:19.560 I feel like if I say it's going to give 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:27.360 it away. One one is tour wait to are injected. 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:28.160 One's a gel. 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:33.720 I'm on about three different substances. One one has taken 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.240 every single day. It's this injection which you do yourself. 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:41.280 And typically I'll do that, you know, evenings, like after 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.600 the school I'm going to do it, and it's very quick. 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.960 It takes you know, two minutes to do the whole process. 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.160 And then there's another injection, which we're gonna do once 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:58.159 a week, which really stings. I really couldn't do it 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.720 last week. I couldn't get a needle in. It's tiny, 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.399 it's like a like an instant injection, but I just 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.320 couldn't get it under my skin. I was sweating. My 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.240 hands were like shining from sweat. I was so nervous. 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.200 So what so scared. Once you get over the pinprick, 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:20.359 you don't feel that at all, but the mind just 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:22.199 plays tricks on you. When you have to look at 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.879 this needle and look at it again, you kind of 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:25.560 freak out a bit. 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.920 A few weeks later, in April, Ben tells us he's 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.119 already feeling the effects. What's the biggest change you've felt 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.040 in your body since beginning the protocol? Has there been 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:39.440 anything that surprised you. 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:47.399