The Art Of The Spiel

BILLIONAIRE CHRISTIAN ANGERMAYER HAS BACKED SEEMINGLY EVERY FLASHY INVESTMENT OF THE LAST DECADE: CRYPTO, PSYCHEDELICS, BRAIN IMPLANTS, LONGEVITY. WITH BOUNDLESS BRAVADO AND A ROSTER OF FAMOUS FRIENDS INCLUDING PETER THIEL, UMA THURMAN AND THE PRESIDENT OF RWANDA-HE'S GETTING READY TO LAUNCH AN OLYMPIAD FOR ATHLETES ON STEROIDS.

- WILL YAKOWICZ AND BRANDON KOCHKODIN

In a suite on the fourth floor of the Four Seasons in Austin, Texas, the German billionaire Christian Angermayer is talking about his newest investment: the Enhanced Games, a 21st-century Olympics on steroids-literally.

A year ago, when Angermayer's friend Aron D'Souza, an entrepreneur and the lawyer who worked with Peter Thiel to take down Gawker Media, mentioned he wanted to disrupt the Olympics by launching a major sporting event that allows athletes to dope with performance-enhancing drugs (under a doctor's supervision), Angermayer thought the idea was brilliant.

"I look at the world through the lens of 'what's the business model, or how can we make money?'" he says while a stylist puts some light makeup on his face and perfects his jet-black hair before an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. "I said, 'Hey, that's a multibillion-dollar idea.'"

The 46-year-old Angermayer, who is worth $1.1 billion and invests through his family office, the Malta-based Apeiron Investment Group, has sunk about $2.5 million into the Enhanced Games. Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist and cryptocurrency entrepreneur, also invested in the project. The organization, which will feature a $1 million prize to whoever breaks the 100-meter-sprint world record and the 50-meter-freestyle world record in swimming, hopes to launch its first competition in 2025 with five sports. While the Olympics have had a 3,000-year head start, Angermayer, with the bravado of a gold medalist, believes that an international sporting event that allows steroids and other drugs with a focus on pushing the limits of human potential will easily surpass the ancient games.