Etats, it is a way more terrible message to state that one athlete gets the benefits of springy technology to potentially become the fastest man in the world but nobody else is allowed that same technology.

But I don't think it sends any kind of bad message you are talking about either. Literally billions of people aren't able to qualify either....a handful of whom tried really hard dedicating their lives just to making it there. Should you feel sorry for them also?

Not cheapening the whole thing by letting this guy in is hugely important. If they do end up letting him in I hope he gets better at this and breaks the world record over and over so everyone can see, including himself, that it isn't the same and shouldn't be counted as the same.

Why do people feel sympathetic towards this guy and not your average HS 400 runner who busts his ass to get down to a 51? Without his prosthetics, both have the same chance of competing in the Olympics. But because the HS kid isn't blessed with the talent Pistorius has, he's only relegated to winning a couple dual meets. Why isn't he allowed to compete in the Olympics?

dye talking about himself itt

Pistorius went and got his own testing done (by his own people), then it was presented to the CAS. The CAS are not scientists, it was a panel of 3 impartial judges. I don't think they used a fair judgment. Put some physiologists, scientists, medical professionals, who have you on the panel.

No, I'm much slower. But why didn't I get to run in the Boston marathon? I know people who qualified and I trained much harder. I should be allowed to run!

Both sides provided studies. This wasn't just Pistorius bringing in some guys off the street that agreed with him and CAS saying, "oh, that makes sense." Of course Pistorius brought forth studies that supported his argument, IAAF did the same thing and both sides are entitled to.

All of the experts agreed that the device doesn't provide as much vertical force as a normal leg does. The studies differed on the metabolic energy advantages, but all of the experts agreed that the tests used were valid. The difference was that the Pistorius experts tested the energy loss against a normal human leg and the IAAF's study did not. It seems to me that that's a big mistake by the IAAF's experts. Maybe they can do another better study that shows that the device has an advantage over a human leg, but they didn't at the time of the case. CAS can only decide based on the evidence that's presented to it.

I posted this earlier, but no one responded and I am curious what others think. It seems to me he should be banned from the paralympics given that the quality of his prosthetic >>>>>>>> the quality of others he is running against prosthetics.

Both sides provided studies, but the IAAF testing was done 5 months prior and presented to Pistorius's people. Pistorius's supporters did testing which was first made known at the CAS review. It was not peer reviewed at all.

Not to mention the fact that being a double amputee helps him compared to the single amputees.

plus you don't need a [censored] study to tell that he's getting an advantage from those things on his legs. i mean look at his terrible starts, then the way he catches up and passes people. are we to believe that if he had regular legs and had normalish starts, that he'd be the fastest man in the world by seconds over these distances? gmafb!

this whole thing is so ridiculous and absurd. but the Olympics usually are, so...

Just looking over this recent competition, single amputees(T44) and double amputees(T43) have different classes, but double amputees are allowed to compete in single amputee events.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_IP...400_metres#T44

Classes explained here: http://www.scottishdisabilitysport.c...ion-explained/

The study Pistorius provided was mostly an improvement on the IAAF's testing. It was peer reviewed in the sense that the IAAF largely agreed with its tests and methods. The IAAF didn't agree with the conclusion but it had nothing concrete to dispute it with. They didn't come close to meeting their burden of proof.

There's nothing stopping any other paralympian from getting the same awesome prosthetics as him. Should Michael Schumaker have been disqualified from formula 1 racing because his Ferrari was better than every one else's car?

trololololol

from http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008...cientific.html


which still ignores that even some of the scientists on pistorius team have come out and say he has an advantage, it just isn't the specific advantage the iaaf initially said, so in terms of the legal hearing their side of the argument won.

Exactly.

If he can improve on his start, and with a little extra springyness or technique or something else I think this is possible, then he could absolutely break the world record.

Do you guys have any idea how rare it is to be able to run an Olympic qualifying time? And the argument is that he would actually be an Olympic caliber runner without these things and with real legs? ...he just HAPPENS to not have legs and it just HAPPENS that the springy things offer no advantage? It's preposterous.

The current world record in the 400m is 43.18 secs. Only 9 recorded times EVER has a sprinter run it in under 44 secs. 44.05 puts you in the all-time top 10.

Oscar's best time currently is 45.07. In 2008 his best time, and the amputee world record, was 47.49. In 2006 he was frequently running 49's. He's improving on this all the time with those ridiculous things. I have no idea if this corresponds to typical rate of improvement of other runners in the 400 but I have a feeling that a whole lot of runners in 2006 who were only able to run 49's then are NOT able to run sub 45.25 now.

I'm guessing some improved technique and maybe tweaks on the technology or springyness or whatever has helped him improve rapidly. And I do think that he can close in on 43 secs at some point.

If they increase the springyness and functionality of the legs and he runs the 400 in 42.0 to shatter the world record BUT the science still can't definitively prove anything then is it still a logical conclusion that the springy things aren't advantageous? What if he runs it in 39 seconds but the science still can't figure it out? What then? He's a guy who if he had real legs would just happen to zoom past all the world's fastest runners?

I agree that each paralympian should have the same equipment, however the competition in Formula 1 is a combination of engineering and driver skill.

I think the idea of a runner becoming a combination of engineering and athleticism is what makes people nervous about Pistorius.

BUT HE WAS CLEARED BAAS LET US UNITE AND FIGHT FOR A WHITE SOUTH AFRIKAA

He's going to compete in the Olympics this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...xMW_story.html

I have very mixed feelings about this whole thing. Probably the consensus of the thread is right and he shouldn't be running. The issue raised about the intrinsic disadvantage of the start possibly compensating for the advantage at the end is kinda interesting to me. However, it also occurs to me that if you put him as anchor in the relay this becomes a lot less of an issue. Has he ever run on a relay team before? Wonder if the Olympics is in for a bit of a rude shock on that one.

.

I read this as well. Arrgh, so annoying.

Deadspin usually finds a reason to criticize anything and everything...but on this issue they kind of avoid that and just play the typical "what a monumental accomplishment" blah blah blah song.

http://deadspin.com/5923448/double-a...-2012-olympics


Kind of hoping this leads to a wave of similar double-amputee runners qualifying for the Olympics thereby showing that the springy attachment things really are a significant advantage.

Would love to see a single-leg amputee make it and have the visual of the one somewhat normal stride off the one leg followed by a springier and stronger vault forward off the fake thing. but, oh yeah, they can't "prove" scientifically that it's an unfair advantage (because they are dumb)


Also: according to wiki, Oscar is 6'1" and 177 pounds. I have no idea how much legs typically weigh from the knee down but I was really expecting him to weigh less than that.

Tbf what an achievement. Go Oscar!

Except it isn't unfair at all...

Except that it obviously is.

He missed out on SA 'strict qualifying times' even with his 'advantage' though?

And FWIW, I feel that sense he missed out on 'these times' he shouldn't qualify.