KEVIN MCCALLUM SAYS YES...
When Oscar Pistorius was going through his court battles with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the perception of others as to whether he should compete against the two-legged, an able-bodied athlete whom he had competed against asked the most simple question: “If he is getting an advantage from the prosthetics, then how come there aren’t other double-legged amputees running the same time as he is?”
It’s a simple argument, but a necessary one. Pistorius is an extraordinary runner, discovered by accident through an injury that forced him out of rugby and into athletics, a sport he despised as a youngster.
There is the emotional aspect of taking Pistorius to the Olympics and that may have played some part in Athletics South Africa asking Sascoc for permission to allow him to compete in the 400m as an individual. He did not reach the second Olympic A qualifying time required of him, but he had posted the two fastest times by a South African over 400m this year and was part of the squad that won silver in the 4x400m at the world championships last year.
His presence will be the greatest public relations South Africa could wish for. He will, along with Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, become the big-name attraction at the Games.
Then there is the practical argument, as put forward by Hugh Herr, the director of the Biomechatronics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, when he spoke to Michael Sokolove in the New York Times in January this year.
“We know that Oscar’s a mutant,” said Herr. “He’s a freak, an absolute freak.”
“What Herr meant (by ‘freak’) was that Pistorius is like all other extraordinary athletes – like a Michael Phelps, a Carl Lewis or a LeBron James – and therefore possessed of physical gifts not normally found in the general population,” wrote Sokolove.
Herr lost his legs below the knee when he was 17 after he and a friend were caught in a blizzard while climbing. Herr was one of the experts gathered by Pistorius’s lawyers in his case against the IAAF who put Pistorius through tests and then testified on his behalf in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Herr is not necessarily the ideal advocate for Pistorius. The bionic future he envisions – augmented human beings, guided by internal microchips, propelled by battery power – is precisely where the Olympic movement does not want to go,” wrote Sokolove. “From his place at the vanguard of prosthetic design, however, Herr is in a position to state with authority that Pistorius is running on old stuff – low-tech equipment well into its second decade on the market.”
“‘Oscar’s prostheses are dumb,’ Herr said, ‘There’s no neural command. There’s no feedback. His legs are not bionic, far from it. I define bionic as something that starts to emulate physiological function. ’Running on the Cheetahs, Herr said, ‘is like running on a mattress. It’s hard. It’s not an advantage.’ “
Pistorius runs on the same model of Cheetah prosthetics as he did at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Why is he quicker? Well, that would be down to the two times a day training sessions and the strict diet that sees him down a vegetable shake in the morning and live on nuts, raw fish and chicken.
It would be the almost 10kg he has lost in the last few years. Pistorius is quicker because he was born to be quick, not because he was made thus. He became an athlete through chance and utter talent, not just the amputation that saw his lower limbs lopped off at the age of 11 months.
TIM WHITFIELD SAYS NO...
OSCAR Pistorius is a phenomenal athlete who has attained remarkable highs and overcome incredible lows. He has inspired millions and will continue to be one of the world’s most motivational sportsmen for years to come.
In short, he epitomises the Olympic philosophy, but should he be competing against able-bodied athletes at the Olympics?
The announcement this week that Pistorius would become the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics is a feel-good story for all the right reasons. He is a man who has refused to allow his physical boundaries to limit him, and for that reason alone deserves to compete on the biggest stage.
But, there are also compelling arguments which maintain “The Blade Runner” should not be competing at the Summer Olympics.
Many of the arguments for competing against able-bodied athletes rely on emotion, but the science, including that conducted by Pistorius’ own scientist, Prof Peter Weyand, suggests Pistorius does, indeed, gain an advantage from his carbon-fibre prostheses.
One of the most vocal and respected voices explaining the advantages of his carbon-fibre “legs” is respected sports doctor Ross Tucker. Having analysed all three studies on Pistorius, he provides some compelling arguments on his website, The Science of Sport.
“In science you start with theory, then you come up with hypotheses, and then test them,” says Tucker. “This was done for Pistorius, and every finding suggests advantage, with no exceptions.”
There are three theories for the advantage, the reduced weight of the limbs, their spring effect and the absence of fatigue. According to research, the above factors result in some startling performance-enhancing advantages.
His carbon-fibre prostheses are so much lighter that Pistorius is able to re-position his legs 11 percent faster than the next fastest runner ever measured. This is crucial, because the speed of human sprinters is determined by how fast they can move their legs. This also means his muscles have to work less hard to exert force on the ground and to re-position his legs, which of course saves energy – a crucial element of any event longer than 200m.
And finally, the energy returns from the springy carbon-fibre is 92 percent compared to a 59 percent return for muscles. Simply put, the carbon fibre does a better job of providing energy that muscle and tendon do. According to the science, the evidence overwhelmingly points to an advantage from his artificial limbs and they allow him to compete on level terms with his 400m opponents. If he has an advantage, but it is only enough to make him competitive, is there a problem? For Pistorius, at the moment, maybe not, but what about the lesser athlete who comes along with a little more technology in their prostheses – just enough to win gold?
Where does the IAAF draw the line?
Swimming was forced to ban swimsuits because technology threatened to become more important than ability, Pistorius competing on his carbon-fibre prostheses could just be the start of the same problem for athletics. – Sunday Independent