Maximilian explains the thinking behind the Games and makes his case for a different approach to athlete choice, medical oversight and competition. Richard questions what medical supervision involves, how athletes are informed about potential consequences, and the distinction between monitoring health and establishing long-term safety.
They also reflect on the inaugural event in Las Vegas, why performances did not always match expectations, and how training, technique and the demands of competition remain central to results. Maximilian shares his interpretation of the athletes’ performances and discusses the role he believes recovery played in their preparation.
For practitioners, coaches and anyone following the debate, this conversation examines the tensions between sporting rules, individual choice and athlete welfare. It also considers the responsibilities that come with promoting enhancement to a wider audience, including the potential influence on younger people.

In this episode you will learn

• How Maximilian defines “enhanced” competition and how its rules differ from mainstream sport.
• His reasoning for allowing certain performance-enhancing substances under medical supervision.
• How he describes Enhanced’s athlete screening, monitoring and individual preparation programmes.
• The questions Richard raises about informed consent, potential side effects and Why allowing enhancement does not remove the importance of training, technique and competition-day performance.
• What Maximilian believes the inaugural Games revealed about preparation, recovery and personal bests.
• How he responds to concerns about role models, younger audiences and the wider influence of the Games.

About Maximilian Martin
Maximilian Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Enhanced, the company behind the Enhanced Games. Originally from Germany, he began his career in investment banking in London before moving into entrepreneurship, including a business in Bitcoin mining. In this episode, he discusses his involvement in developing Enhanced and presents the organisation’s position on performance enhancement in sport.

The views and opinions expressed by the guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the podcast, Science for Sport or its affiliates.

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Anna’s route into sports science began as an international-level rower. Her interest in training, performance and data eventually took her from competing for the United States to helping develop the systems that support athletes across 19 sports at Utah.

In this episode, Anna explains how Utah has moved from manual data exports and generalised reporting to faster, integrated workflows that deliver relevant information to coaches and practitioners. She discusses why collecting more data is not always the answer, the importance of educating decision-makers and how greater context can prevent practitioners from drawing the wrong conclusions from a metric.

The conversation also explores individual athlete baselines, the limitations of fixed asymmetry thresholds and the need to make data specific to the athlete, position and sport. Anna also shares her perspective on artificial intelligence, including where it can improve performance workflows and why it should never replace qualified human judgement.

In this episode you will learn

• How Anna moved from international rowing into applied sports science
• Why Utah only collects data it can use to support athletes or performance
• How the university delivers performance information across 19 different sports
• Why coaches and support staff must understand the context behind every metric
• How Utah has developed more sport-, position- and athlete-specific reporting
• Why fixed thresholds can be misleading when assessing asymmetry
• How integrated performance teams can make better use of limited resources
• Where AI can support practitioners without replacing their expertise
• Why athlete welfare must remain central to every performance decision
• How strong systems create more time for meaningful analysis

About Anna Cruse
Anna Cruse is Assistant Athletics Director for Applied Health and Performance Science and Director of Football Performance Science at the University of Utah.

A former elite lightweight rower, Anna represented the United States at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships before moving into coaching, performance science and data analytics. Her career has included experience with the Philadelphia Union, Penn State and exercise intelligence company Svexa.

At Utah, Anna helps lead the systems used to collect, interpret and communicate performance information across the university’s athletic programme. Her work focuses on turning data into useful decisions while ensuring that technology and analysis remain grounded in good science and the needs of the individual athlete.

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From growing up in Birmingham to playing in front of Michael Jordan at the Jordan Brand Classic, suffering two major hip surgeries in the US collegiate system, becoming the British Basketball League’s highest-scoring British player, and navigating the hidden psychological battles behind performance… Kofi’s story is raw, real, and deeply relevant for anyone working in elite sport.

Now the founder of WhyNotI, a preventative mental health tech platform designed specifically for elite athletes, Kofi is on a mission to reshape how professional environments understand – and support – the person behind the performer.

This episode offers an unfiltered look at the pressures, cultural challenges, expectations, and mental load that athletes carry, and the systemic changes needed to truly support sustainable high performance.

What You’ll Learn

• The hidden mental toll of elite sport and why performance alone never tells the full story.

• How perfectionism, pressure, and identity shape athlete wellbeing – and where support structures fall short.

• Why mental health must be preventative, not reactive, if teams want consistency and longevity in performance.

• Insights into the collegiate system in the US and its cultural, emotional, and psychological challenges for young athletes.

• Why separating “the athlete” from “the person” is flawed, and how reframing this changes support strategies.

• The crucial role of coaches, GMs, and ownership in building environments where mental health is prioritised.

• How WhyNotI is using technology, psychology, and data to influence policy, culture, and player care across elite sport.

About Kofi Josephs

Kofi Josephs is a former professional basketball player who represented England at the Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at EuroBasket, competing across elite leagues worldwide including Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Iceland.

A psychology graduate and outspoken advocate for athlete mental health, Kofi has built a platform that blends his lived experience with scientific insight. He is the founder of WhyNotI, a preventative mental health tech solution designed to provide bespoke support for elite performers while equipping organisations with the data needed to improve culture, care, and decision-making.

Kofi now works across sport, safeguarding, and policy, collaborating with leaders from national governing bodies, Olympic sports, and high-performance environments to drive systemic change.

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​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In
​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese
​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More
​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance
​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes
​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research