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Amputee Is German Long Jump Champion
hweimer (709734) writes "German long jumper Markus Rehm has written sports history yesterday, becoming the first disabled athlete to win a national able-bodied championship. His jump to 8.24 meters put him on the 9th place of the current season rankings and make him egligible to compete in the upcoming European championships, further sparking the debate whether his prosthetic leg provides him with an unfair advantage."
I don't know if there's an unfair advantage, but if not for sports, then at the very least it's good news for normal life.
From TFA
Rehm runs and jumps with a specially designed blade that is 15 inches longer than his other leg
I can't imagine why anyone would accuses him of 'cheating' ...
The device is like a spring, so it stores energy as well as having extra length and mechanical advantage, and better still its far stronger and requires much more force to break.
I'm sorry he lost his leg, but there is no why this is 'fair' by any sense of the word.
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Specifically, not having lost a leg, can I put a spring on my leg and claim a championship?
Just like car racing, we need different divisions for athletics. One for stock, unmodified humans like us. No drugs, etc. And the "top fuel" division for prosthetics, hormones, steroids, etc. My interest in several sports (bicycling, weightlifting) has already died because of rampant drug abuse. Heck, if you don't do drugs then you won't even qualify for televised events. It's sort of like F1 racing, it's not really a competition between humans, it's a competition between scientists.
Ever since the Olympics went professional, it's been boring. Of course, once these two divisions have been established, the athletes will still cheat in the stock division. Because there's money involved. Even the Korean Starcraft players cheat for the same reason.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Shoes are "non-human appendages". Clothes are "non-human appendages". Should people have to compete in bare feet and naked?
Yes. That's how the first Olympics worked.
But they'd better allow women this time or I'm not watching.
Eventually prosthetics will get so good that they'll let athletes achieve much better results than any unmodified human. When it happens everybody will see that the only way to go is different categories for different equipments. We are bound by compassion and politically correctness until we get to that point, so how to address this problem now? Call me hard hearted but I'd still apply my reasoning and enforce different categories right now even if we are in doubt of who's getting an advantage at the moment.
Which surgeons are willing to do so? I don't think surgeons are even willing to remove dead-weight paralyzed limbs or limbs that the brain refuses to recognize if the limbs otherwise appear physically healthy.
Allegedly gave his two cents. I see people even today saying "this is not a legal advice, hire a lawyer" like all the time. I'm pretty sure it applies to ancient prose even more.
Ezekiel 23:20
What are you talking about?
You could easily design a similar advantagous device and attach it to your perfectly fine leg. Yet that is not allowed (for good reasons I'd say).
Athletes in the cyborg Olympics will do more impressive stuff than unenhanced athletes. Thus ends sports as we know it. (And about time, too.)
I would guess advantages can only be properly quantified if both his legs are prosthetics because when you have one real leg the capabilities of other leg has to be adjusted to match the real one.
Saudi Arabia is to modern Olympics what the US et al. would be to Ancient Olympics...
Ezekiel 23:20
If there's a distinct non-human advantage to them, yes. Most sports are extremely tightly regulated, mainly I've looked at the Nordic sports and for example the jump suit used in ski jumping is highly regulated. Likewise in ice skating, they proved some years ago a "Donald Duck" like suit would improve skate times. It was banned. The support biathlon athletes can get while shooting is likewise regulated. The rules themselves are arbitrary, as long as they're equal for everyone. Why it is "three strikes, you're out" in baseball? Couldn't it be one strike? Five strikes? Sure it could, but the game says three. And then you compete under the rules of the game. Everything else is the other way around, they're allowed to wear baseball caps because everyone can wear one and it doesn't favor anyone in particular. You can't call ut unaided because bicyclists obviously outpace runners, pole vaulters outjump high jumpers and so on but the aid is considered neutral. Anything that isn't you ban.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Egg lig ibble? Really? Egg lig ibble?
I understand that the title "Slashdot Editor" is intended largely for comedic effect... I hope. Perhaps we could just get the place renamed to Slapstick.com ...oh, that's taken. How about Slapdash.com, that seems to be up for sale.
That isn't true. Sports don't exist to be elitist and show others that you're better than they are.
That is the definition of "competition".
You find competition in everything whether you are talking elite coders, spelling bee champions, among sales people and amongst companies.
Some people said Steve Jobs was "elitist".
Competition brings out those characteristics. Sports is a way that it is done where the arena is physical prowess.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
If you watch the jump carefully you'll notice that he takes off (launches) from the prosthetic leg. I wouldn't be complaining too much if he took off from his real leg.
Look at the kangaroo, a kangaroo has a very long Achilles tendon. This allows them to be very efficient in jumping buy storing up so much energy when it stretches out like a rubber band enabling them to jump very far with very little effort. Humans on the other hand, have very short achilles tendons and therefore do not have this mechanical advantage.
When landing, the impact force and weight of the this guy is absorbed by active elastic stretch of the prosthetic. When he jumps, the weight is accelerated by a recoil force due to elastic recoil of the the prosthetic. This recoil force is much greater than that of what our our achilles tendon plus the active contraction of our calf muscle can do.
This guy has the equivilant of a 15inch long achilles tendon. As if you look at the video when he actually makes the jump, you'll see the prosthetic "foot" is bent 90 degrees from it's normal angle. The human achilles tendon is a) not 15in long and b) doesn't bend 90 degrees.
As a side note, I would assume there is no "fatigue" or decrease in "springiness" of the prosthetic between his first, second and third jumps. He could always show up to an event with a brand new prosthetic.
He's cheating.
really? you are excluded from "running in a line, then jumping" really??? you clearly have no clue about sports at all. perhaps you are the stereotypical nerd who got picked on all the time, but not all of us are, and to many of us sports are a good leisure activity
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
I don't care. Sports is (are?) stupid.
Why? Because you don't play them? I'm sure whatever hobbies you prefer are clearly superior... [/sarcasm]
They are, by default, exclusionary.
Pretty much anyone can play sports so they are by definition not exclusionary. You might not be the best at a given sport but absent an insurmountable physical deficit there is nothing prohibiting your from participation. We even have special competitions like the Special Olympics for those who need a little extra help to participate.
Call me a jerk for not feeling sympathy for the rich, steroid ladened, kids whose parents gave them every advantage in the world suddenly feel disadvantaged.
Ok, you're a jerk. "Rich, steroid ladened kids whose parents give them every advantage"? Seriously? You sound like a pathetic bitter little person with an inferiority complex who needs to denigrate others to make yourself feel superior. Sports are nothing more than games. You don't have to like sports nor do you have to participate but it takes a real asshole to think that because others enjoy a game that those who participate are somehow bad people. The entire point of a game is to have people compete under the same rules as everyone else. Sometimes technology creates advantages that break the game balance and we have to consider whether or not to allow that technology. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Having that discussion does not make you one a jerk but people who criticize the need for the discussion (like you) are jerks.
you are laughing now, but just wait few years
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Ever since the Olympics went professional, it's been boring.
Maybe to you. Personally I disagree. I want to see the best of the best competing on the most level playing field we can devise. Whether they get paid for it or not is irrelevant to me.
I would think if you're allowed to attach any mechanical device you want where your legs would be I'd think someone would come up with a catapult that would just hurl him the length of a football field. No one's touching that record.
i was responding the the above poster and his disdain for sports, im not talking about the person in the article whom i dont believe should be in the competition with the others due to his unfair advantage.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
He's not excluded, there's the paralympics for people like that. Simply put, how do you judge whether somebody in a wheelchair has an advantage over somebody who isn't? Or how about amputees, I'm not sure anybody really established whether or not there was a real advantage to Pistorius when it came to his races.
What's more, the Olympics are incredibly hard to get into with or without a disability.
In the original Olympics they competed naked for millennia ...
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Shoes are "non-human appendages". Clothes are "non-human appendages". Should people have to compete in bare feet and naked?
Another reason to keep women's volleyball in the Olympics.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
That is quite possibly the worst interpretation of scripture that I've seen in a while. Even people who don't buy into it are quite capable of realizing that what you're suggesting the passage means has nothing to do with what it was intended to mean.
I'm not sure if this is just ignorance, a failed attempt to be funny, or a troll. If it's the latter, bravo to you as it appears as though it's worked rather well.
Should people have to compete in bare feet and naked?
Only in Beach Volleyball.
But as far as track and field sports, if one competitor can use springs or blades then why can't all of them?
Welcome our Cyborg overlords to the long jump games in soviet russia where the jump longs for you. MUST SLEEP NOW> Good bye.
One thing that keeps runners from "opting into" this prosthetic is that mainstream surgeons are forbidden to perform elective amputations.
I'd think that the main thing that keeps runners from "opting into" prosthetics is that most people don't want their fucking legs cut off.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Athletes regularly have laser surgery to improve their vision to 20/10 or better. Baseball hitters in particular claim that it gives them an advantage in terms of being able to see the spin on the ball sooner. Should that be allowed?
Did you warn them about 9/11?
This:
http://www.dw.de/super-suits-b...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...
clearly you have no understanding of sports at all of thats all you think is involved. I feel sad for you
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
He's not excluded, there's the paralympics for people like that.
You are using very inclusionary words here. Not.
Next you'll be telling me fighter pilots will be cutting off their legs to pull more G's without the blood flowing out. See also Douglas Bader,, SNES-era Star Fox...
Sure - if there as a national standards body that accepted ladders in the "Ladder Assisted High Jump" event. In such an event, it's likely the ladders would have standards relating to factors such as height, weight, elasticity and all competitors in that event would be able to use ladders meeting those criteria.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
Well, these prosthetics are kinda available for everyone too. You could even gain an upper leg over him (bad pun, ok), by getting two of those...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
These blades are highly regulated. When Oscar Pistorius lost in the 200m paralympic amputee final in London in 2012, he had a rant about the length of the blades of his opponent. It's well known that long blades give an advantage over legs, hence the regulation.
What I find difficult is the classification of disability. Whilst some disabilities are relatively easily defined, most are not. Whether you're successful or not can depend on which category you're placed in, not how good an athlete you are. See here for an example.
As a disabled person, this whole discussion strikes me as some pretty big sour grapes. I sure never see this level of abject shock and horror about how fair things should be when it comes to me not being able to participate in things. But aside from this post, I usually don't whine about how unfair things are. Life gives some people different advantages. Sorry 99% of the people on this thread, you're getting a tiny look into what every day is like for disabled people.
Everything will be taken away from you.
So, lets say I lose my right arm, get a bionic arm, and start 'weight lifting' - enter the olympics, and demonstrate ultra strength with my bionic arm. Legit?
It's exactly as legitimate as long jumping from a prosthetic spring-board. There's nothing even remotely fair about allowing him to compete with non-spring-boarded athletes. I wish him luck and applaud his strength and will to try, though.
Of course. Pole vault is a well respected event.
It was always going to happen - now it finally has. We have the Olympics and the Paralympics - because the athletes in the Paralympics cannot compete against non-handicapped athletes. Now, at least in some circumstances, it is possible to replace missing biological parts with superior parts (at least for a specific task).
Some athletes will take any advantage they can get. For years now, it has been impossible to win certain events without doping (Tour de France). Remember the biologically male athletes from behind the iron curtain who had themselves surgically altered so that they could compete as women?
If this result stands, as prosthetics continue to improve - how long until some athlete deliberately has an accident requiring their leg to be amputated?
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Does the surface contract point of the prosthetic also mean that he can jump from closer to the line than somebody with a normal footprint?
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
When there's money in it, people will cheat.
I have news for you. People cheat even when there isn't money in it. Money makes the problem worse but it isn't the root of the problem. Some people just want to win, no matter what. Money alone really isn't enough to explain the cheating in high level athletics. It's a factor but not as big as you might assume.
I've competed at the Division 1 college level of athletics for a top tier program in my sport of choice (not cycling). Nobody gets into sport at that level because of money though it might help keep them in it. People compete because they want to win. They want to be the best. That is most of what drives them. Money is just added incentive for those at the very top in select sports. You'll see people get popped for PEDs in sports where there is no money almost as often as in sports where there is money. Few people appreciate just how hard and how much work it is to compete at that level. There are very few people for whom money alone is sufficient motivation to compete at that level. You basically have to torture yourself for years on a daily basis and most people cannot do it.
Drugs can make a difference but only a few percent improvement at best. You could throw a whole pharmacy at me or 99.9999% of people on Earth and we still don't have the physiology to win the Tour de France. You have to be able to get near the top without drugs for the drugs to be able to push you to the top. I've competed and coached my sport for well over 30 years. There is close to no money in the sport but you'll see at least 1 or 2 athletes get popped for PEDs at world level competitions each year. I have good reason to believe most athletes in my sport are clean (PEDs provide a relatively modest performance benefit) but I'm quite certain a few aren't and like I said, money is not really a factor.
what the fuck is he supposed to say? its a factual statement. Stop being a politically correct asshole
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
you just don't want it bad enough.
... i don't think you grasp how analogies work.
In this case, however, one athlete had an technological benefit that others could not easily obtain.
If disability has become a superpower, then how can others "not easily obtain" this benefit, other than surgeons covering their own behinds by refusing to amputate an otherwise healthy limb?