Double-amputee Pistorius to be allowed in Olympic events

[BrokenVisage]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/.../news/story?id=3398915

I just don't get this ruling. I feel for the guy, I understand the obstacles he had to overcome, but he is NOT able-bodied and therefore should not be allowed to compete on this stage.

And please.. don't give me "his times aren't even good enough to qualify, just let him try" BS. It's not about him, it's about prosthetic technology becoming more advanced in the future and possibly giving OTHERS an advantage in time, and this creates a nice little loophole for them to meet with less resistance when that time comes, and it will.

 

[rivan]

I want to be the first cyborg-body olympian!

Put my head in a jar ala Futurama 'til my immortal coil is ready!

 

[0roo0roo]

its all a sham anyways at this point.
coca cola ftw

 

[everman]

No competitive advantage? Popular science/mechanics had an interesting article a while back about how those prosthetic legs are a great advantage. They're very efficient, requires less energy to run.

 

[daveymark]

just wait till a black guy straps a pair of those on

 

[glenn beck]

Originally posted by: daveymark
just wait till a black guy straps a pair of those on

that seriously made me lol!

 

[scott916]

GREAT. Let's all bend to political correctness instead of preserving the sanctity of the world's longest-running tournament. :roll:

 

[BlackTigers]

his times aren't even good enough to qualify, just let him try

 

[waggy]

wow. if they allow this i don't see why they get all pissy when people take steriods.

he should not be allowed in.

 

[trmiv]

I propose I be allowed to compete in swimming with one of these

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: daveymark
just wait till a black guy straps a pair of those on

and after the sprints, heads over to the long jump...

I don't think it takes racial stereotypes to see the shortcomings in allowing mechanical technology into the games.

 

[Snapster]

Originally posted by: Pistorius
It's a great day for sport. I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people

It's not equality when you are given an advantage of being able to use less energy per stride.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Snapster

Originally posted by: Pistorius
It's a great day for sport. I think this day is going to go down in history for the equality of disabled people

It's not equality when you are given an advantage of being able to use less energy per stride.

arguably to make up for the advantage that he has no legs?

I feel for the guy, not able-bodied enough to be in the olympics sans controversy, but too able-bodied to try for paralympics or something similiar i imagine.

I dunno, I think it's amazing he can run almost that fast considering again, he has no legs.

edit:

CAS said the IAAF failed to prove that Pistorius' running blades give him an advantage.

"The panel was not persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage in favor of a double-amputee using the Cheetah Flex-Foot," CAS said. "Furthermore, the CAS panel has considered that the IAAF did not prove that the biomechanical effects of using this particular prosthetic device gives Oscar Pistorius an advantage over other athletes not using the device."

How do you prove the biomechanical advantage? That it requires less work? Is the metabolic one along the same idea?

 

[Snapster]

Originally posted by: oogabooga

arguably to make up for the advantage that he has no legs?

I feel for the guy, not able-bodied enough to be in the olympics sans controversy, but too able-bodied to try for paralympics or something similiar i imagine.

I dunno, I think it's amazing he can run almost that fast considering again, he has no legs.

I do feel sorry for him as well, but he technically has an improvement in design over the average human leg. If his prosthetic legs were designed to be 100% equivalent to a leg then I would have no argument. The fuss that is being kicked up is because he has that advantage of being able to use more energy per stride as the leg is able to store part of the energy from the downward motion and use it in the upward motion, thus giving him more spring and possibly distance per stride. There is an article somewhere which shows the technical details of his leg vs a normal human leg floating around somewhere.

 

[scott916]

Originally posted by: Snapster
There is an article somewhere which shows the technical details of his leg vs a normal human leg floating around somewhere.

I remember reading about it in a magazine, I think it was Scientific American. They had specific graphics showing the forces and advantages, it was a great read.

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: daveymark
just wait till a black guy straps a pair of those on

and after the sprints, heads over to the long jump...

I don't think it takes racial stereotypes to see the shortcomings in allowing mechanical technology into the games.

technically the long jump wouldn't apply here, as they would have to utilize that special bone in their foot that allows them to jump farther. no foot, no special bone.

black folks winning running events isn't a racial stereotype, it's a fact.

 

[Baked]

Damn special people taking advantage of regular folks. There's a special Olympic for super humans like the guy in the article.

 

[tfcmasta97]

Originally posted by: scott916
GREAT. Let's all bend to political correctness instead of preserving the sanctity of the world's longest-running tournament. :roll:

QFT

 

[MaxDepth]

Interesting. The whole argument was based upon whether or not the "cheetah blades" gave him an unfair competitive advantage over an able bodied person.

I think it was the wrong tact to go after by the IAAF. Instead, they should have pursued it as body modification as being not allowed. Right now the huge focus is "performance enhancement biologicals" (drugs).

Instead of looking at the blades as "performance enhancement mechanicals" they should have disallowed him on the grounds he does not have the human body parts as required.

Yup. This goes totally against the politcally correct out there. Yes, I am saying he is less human than those whom he will compete against.

The IAAF should never get involved in the would've, could've, should've of any human disability and a mechanical workaround can be used. He runs on devices. Plain and simple. You cannot judge how fatigue poisons are distributed in his body before or after the modification. And this should be a very, very strict interpretation of the code. He has been modified to compete.

 

[Kadarin]

He should not be allowed to compete.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
He should not be allowed to compete.

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: everman
No competitive advantage? Popular science/mechanics had an interesting article a while back about how those prosthetic legs are a great advantage. They're very efficient, requires less energy to run.

Ding ding ding. It's great that this guy is fast on those things, but so would I if i could compete with rollerblades.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
its all a sham anyways at this point.
coca cola ftw

i really dont care about equality in sport competition. it is, indeed, so much about entertainment, that i dont understand why people care that much.

i say open the gates, get the cyborgs and speed freaks on the field, and lets see some *real* competition.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
its all a sham anyways at this point.
coca cola ftw

i really dont care about equality in sport competition. it is, indeed, so much about entertainment, that i dont understand why people care that much.

Not so much in the Olympics. It's about legitimate performance and the cheetah attachments do give him an advantage. It is understandable that the IAAF banned them. I think it should mean he can't compete in the Olympics or any global race or that his time shouldn't quite count. He should keep running; but he's got so many endorsements by now that if he really was only trying to give strength to those who are disable, he could still reach out to them.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

I think they should scrap all men's events and only allow hot women to compete in flimsy attires. Until that happens I can't really be bothered to watch it.