Amputee Sprinter Wins Olympic Appeal to Compete

Dr. Eggman writes "Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old South African double-amputee sprinter, has won his appeal filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This overturns a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and allows Mr. Pistorius the chance to compete against other able-bodied athletes for a chance at a place on the South African team for the Beijing Olympics. He currently holds the 400-meter Paralympic world sprinting record, but must improve on his time by 1.01 seconds to meet the Olympic qualification standard. However, even if Pistorius fails to get the qualifying time, South African selectors could add Oscar to the Olympic 1,600-meter relay squad."

Comments

So where do you draw the line ?

[erlehmann]

Artificial limbs, I see that. Now what is with someone who had laser surgery on his eyes so he/she can see better ? Would you ban that person from a shooting match ? Even if he/she still can't see better than a top athlete ? If the person can see on par ? Or better ?

In the end, the questions we should ask ourselves probably are not about fairness but about the purpose of such games.

Re:How unfair...

[sjbe]

Did you actually read the article? It said that the legs did not give him a mechanical advantage: But the ARE performance enhancing. How is that ANY different than someone taking performance enhancing drugs? It isn't. This ruling misses the point. While he's not cheating he's not competing under the same rules as everyone else either. The prosthetics allow him to do things his body cannot naturally do and none of his competitors will have a similar chance to (legally) enhance their performance the same way.

I wasn't born with legs fast enough to run 400 meters in 45 seconds either even with feet. Yes it sucks to not have two feet but that doesn't mean anyone should get an advantage in getting to the Olympics. Not me and not anyone else.

Re:How unfair...

[Culture20]

It's pretty clear that a normal athlete with a spring attached to their foot wouldn't be allowed... We have the special olypmics for a reason. I'm sure this guy can win there, and wish him luck in that... but not in the normal olympics. I can't wait until the special olympics are outperforming regular olympics, kind of like a super-hero olympics made up of bionic people.

A wrestling parallel

[zarathud]

A friend of mine wrestled in high school and likes to tell the story about the toughest match he ever had. His opponent was an amputee: one arm missing. This gave him several advantages.
    - his weight class was effectively lowered
    - many moves would became ineffective against him (you can't grab an arm if it isn't there).
    - years of living with one arm had made that arm very, very strong. This combined with the weight class issue meant that his arm was generally absurdly stronger that his opponent's.
    - surprise. Most folks had no experience wrestling a one-armed opponent and were not prepared. It changed the game.

Of course, there were also disadvantages. Many moves require two arms, and his armless side was a zone he could not reach into. My friend was able to capitalize on this, attacking from the armless side. In the end, my friend won, but not easily.

All this without prosthetics even.

Do I think this guy and an unfair advantage? Well no. But it is not an easy situation to analyze.

Re:inspiration v. tech

[YrWrstNtmr]

if he's not already running circles around everyone I fail to see the advantage,

He's not running circles around everyone else, because the rest of his body isn't up to it.
What if we put cybernetic legs on the current second or third place dude? Might he then be the world record holder, solely because of the artificial legs?

Re:Performance enhancing - legs vs drugs

[Reziac]

And how long is it before some otherwise-healthy person has their legs amputated so they too can be a spring-loaded sprinter, because they feel that will give them that final edge they need to make the Olympics?

Don't think it won't happen. Obsessed athletes are among the absolute worst for ignoring long-term consequences in favour of short-term goals.