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Prosthetic-Limbed Runner Disqualified from Olympic Games

Posted by Zonk on from the street-sams-are-right-around-the-corner dept.

contraba55 wrote with a link to an Engadget story on a sign of the postmodern times. Oscar Pistorius, a world-class sprinter, has been denied a shot at participating in the Olympics this year. He's a double-amputee, but he's not out because of his handicap; he's disqualified because he's faster than most sprinters. "The runner — who uses carbon-fiber, prosthetic feet — was reviewed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (or IAAF), a review which found the combination of man and machine to be too much for its purely human competitors. According to the IAAF report, the 'mechanical advantage of the blade in relation to the healthy ankle joint of an able bodied athlete is higher than 30-percent.' Additionally, Pistorius uses 25-percent less energy than average runners due to the artificial limbs, therefore giving him an unfair advantage on the track."

5 of 509 comments (clear)

  1. Screw Myminicity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

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    1. Re:Screw Myminicity! by Aladrin · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      You know what? I'm the one that started that city, and it wasn't even my idea... I posted it as a joke response to someone who -did- think of it. I resent Trolls stealing my city and claiming the idea as their own.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  2. Re:man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    that isn't an unnecessary comma. If, then.

  3. Re:man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    His irony was over 9000, and yet you still managed to miss it. Well done.

  4. Re:man... by neo_opticon · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    How do you explain the semicolon then? Preemptive irony?