UPDATE: Wallace confirms participation in Enhanced Games, aims to break record
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Thirty-two-year-old retired sprinter Shokoria Wallace says she is excited to participate in the Enhanced Games and is aiming to break a world record .
“I am officially announcing that I am now a member of the Enhanced Games team. I am proud, I am excited to go on this journey,” Wallace said in an Instagram post on Monday, following the announcement of her participation by Enhanced.
READ: First Jamaican signs up for controversial Enhanced Games
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“They do provide a lot for athletes, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be working with them moving forward,” the sprinter said.
Urging fans to join her in Las Vegas this May, she said, “I, Shokoria Wallace, will be racing down that track to break the world record and win a grand prize of US$1 million. I am excited.”
Wallace did not specify which of her events she was aiming to break the record for, but the 100-metre world record is 10.49 seconds, set by American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo) in 1988 during the US Olympic trials, while the 60 metre record of 6.92 seconds is held by Russia’s Irina Privalova, set in Madrid, Spain in 1993.
Wallace maintained that she was not under any pressure to take performance-enhancing drugs, emphasising that the Enhanced Games team gave athletes the choice to compete naturally or enhanced under medical supervision.
The Enhanced Games, to debut in Las Vegas this year, is set on the premise of allowing athletes to push the limits of the human body under medical supervision in what it describes as a new era of competition.
The Games have been shunned by traditional sporting bodies and described by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe as ‘moronic’ while organisers defend it as a celebration of human potential through safe, transparent enhancement.
Athletes can use performance-enhancing drugs, if they desire, to augment their performances across several disciplines, including athletics and swimming.