Saturday, November 1, 2008

He's running, why aren't you?

Oscar Pistorius was born with no fibula -- the outer bone between the knee and ankle -- is either 0f his legs, forcing him to have his legs amputated before he was even a year old. Also known as "the Blade Runner", Pistorius races on blades called "Cheetah Flex-Feet." Many concerns arose from Paralympic competitors that his prothetics were unfair.

Pistorius was in line for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, however speculation was not too far behind. A professor at the German Sport University examined Pistorius' blades and concluded that the blades returned energy more efficiently to the legs than a normal human ankle joint, allowing him to expend less energy than other sprinters.

After these findings were made public, Pistorius was barred from IAAF races, including the Olympics. Pistorius appealed to the Court of Arbitration of Sport and his legal team provided evidence from biomechanics experts that had the professor taken the entirety of Pistorius' body mechanics into account, he would have found that Pistorius does not compete at an advantage. The court was persuaded and reinstated Pistorius, and the president of IAAF welcomed Pistorius back to the competition.
Do you think a man with prosthetics should be allowed to compete in the Olympics with able-bodied athletes? Or should he stick to the Paralympics?

2 comments:

Alex said...

those pictures alone, make me feel bad for not taking advantage of my legs!

Unknown said...

Wow, that is inspiring! I'm going to get out and run!