Oscar "The Blade Runner" Pistorius [wiki] (aka "The Fastest Man on No Legs"), a South African paralympic runner is a double amputee world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 meter events.
Oscar wanted to be the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics, but other runners cried foul saying that his artificial running legs actually gave him an unfair advantage!
From a New York Times article earlier this year:
“I pose a question” for the I.A.A.F., said Robert Gailey, an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Miami Medical School, who has studied amputee runners. “Are they looking at not having an unfair advantage? Or are they discriminating because of the purity of the Olympics, because they don’t want to see a disabled man line up against an able-bodied man for fear that if the person who doesn’t have the perfect body wins, what does that say about the image of man?”
The question before the International Association of Athletics Federation, the governing body of the sport, was this: was Oscar the double amputee too "able-bodied" to compete?
The answer seemed to be yes: the IAAF had banned the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device."
Link: NY Times Article (Photo by Christopher Furlong)
Unless all the runners are going to run barefoot and naked anything can be considered an unfair advantage.
Michael
It would seem having a handicap is handicapping afterall... go figure.