First amputee sprinter; came in second in semi-final.
South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at
the Olympics.The four-time Paralympic champion, 25, whose legs were amputated below the knee as a baby, finished second in his 400m heat in a time of 45.44 seconds to reach Sunday’s semi-final.
“I didn’t know if I should cry or be happy. It was such a mix of emotions,” Pistorius told BBC Sport.
I have seen able-bodied people jumping and running wearing prosthetics that are very similar to those worn by Pistorius (see here for a picture of one from a horse-and-acrobat show), and like some others, I wonder whether they even give the wearers an unfair advantage over normal humans; certainly, the acrobats in the Cavalia’s Odysseo horse and acrobat show that I saw, wearing similar prosthetics, could do very high leaps and flips, and run fairly fast, on them, much more than a person can normally do… Okay, I admit it: I don’t wonder; I do indeed believe they constitute an unfair advantage…
Just another example of everything that’s wrong with the Olympics today, IMO…
Great post. I completely agree. Even though this is a great story there are still question marks. People want to believe it and that’s great. But I don’t know if I can get over the fact that he could have an unfair advantage. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the years to come and if there are others like Pistorius who will have to overcome the same hurdles. Also, you think you could take a look at my latest post because I would love to hear your opinion http://chrisross91.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/oscar-pistorius-should-not-be-racing/
I’ve left a comment there; it’s stuck in spam or moderation.