The 21-year-old, who runs on specially adapted carbon fibre blades after having his legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, saw the ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 400m runner was barred from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage.
"Today, I can pursue my dream of competing in the Olympic Games. If it's not for Beijing, it will be for London in 2012," said the South African, nicknamed 'Bladerunner'.
The South African runner still has an uphill battle. His personal best time for the 400 meter is 46.46 seconds. To qualify for the Olympic team, he must beat 45.95 seconds. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hWOS0zFQ_pdZfYBsxOqrx0VAjchw -via YesButNoButYes
There’s a fascinating article explaining the "advantages" of the Cheetah prosthetic limbs Pistorius uses at Cocktail Party Physics (after the first couple of paragraphs). Link
"The CAS Panel has emphasised that the scope of application of this decision is limited to the eligibility of Oscar Pistorius only and, only, to his use of the specific prosthesis in issue in this appeal.
"It follows that this decision has no application to the eligibility of any other athletes or any other model of prosthetic limb."
True, but it still sets a precedent, and the next athlete to come along requesting permission for some mechanical prosthesis is going to point to this case and say "Why him and not me?" And while this particular model may not provide any advantage, there are definitely people who will attempt to use them to gain an advantage, just as there are people who use steroids to gain an advantage.
and its not hard to see a wheelchaired man smoke an ablebodied marathon runner.
I believe able bodies and disable bodies are categories, thats why they are seperated, not because of superiority.
Therefore he should not be allowed to run. In this case, sure, it may be fair or it may be unfair. But certainly, people will abuse this right if it is established.
We don't allow performance enhancing drugs, why should they allow the potential of performance enhancing limbs? (I totally don't think they should have allowed those slicksuits on swimmers either, by the way).
thats like saying shoes are performance enhancing feet. If the equipment is open to all athletes, it should be allowed.
This decision makes it harder for the Olympics to prevent themselves from going down that road.
The issue I have is that he's going to continue to compete in the Paralympic games as well. That doesn't seem fair to me. Pick one or the other. How is it any different than an able-bodied athlete petitioning to take up Olympic-level wheelchair racing while also competing in a running race?
This is a stupid controversy that is only still in play because of the whiny nature of today's bleeding heart P.C. society. Seriously... Bummer about the legs, dude, but those are thee breaks.
They have a special class for wheelchair athletes in many marathons. They can't "run" with the main class because the wheelchair athletes would kick everyone else's asses (Boston Marathon winning wheelchair times of < 1h 30m compared with over 2h for "normal" runners).
If there are enough double-amputee athletes out there, they can have their own paralympic event. That's the whole point of those games.
Maybe he should try there.
Anyway, if you can sprint wearing these things, what's to stop other athletes wanting to use them during the long jump or the high jump?
I can see not allowing him to compete if his personal best was faster than the world record...
Maybe you should try there if you don't understand the difference between the Special Olympics and the Paralympics.
the part about "241% energy return"