He’s Starting an Olympics Rival Where the Athletes Are on Steroids

In the corner of Christian Angermayer’s London office, facing an ancient saber-toothed cat skull, is a long, ergonomically designed nap pod. Angermayer hasn’t tried it yet—it’s new, and he’s been traveling—but he endorses the idea. “I’m really sleep-obsessed,” he says. Like many ultrarich people, he spends heavily on things designed to optimize and extend life. But Angermayer, a biotech entrepreneur, has turned that passion into an investment thesis like no one else. Through his family office, Apeiron Investment Group, he has backed ventures including longevity science, brain computer chips and mushroom therapeutics.

His latest venture is his most audacious: the Enhanced Games, an alternative to the Olympics in which athletes will compete in 10 events, from sprinting to weightlifting to an as-yet-undecided combat sport, while proudly taking growth hormones, anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. No date or site has been determined for the competition yet, but its initial funding was unveiled earlier this year, drawing close to $10 million in capital from Angermayer’s friend Peter Thiel and other investors, as well as some sharp barbs. “Someone will die,” said Kieren Perkins, an ex-Olympian who’s now head of Australia’s sports commission.