[PAmedic]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/sport ... NES_HEALTH

Amputee Sprinter: Is He Disabled or Too-Abled?

Pistorius wants to be the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics. But despite his ascendance, he is facing resistance from track and field’s world governing body, which is seeking to bar him on the grounds that the technology of his prosthetics may give him an unfair advantage over sprinters using their natural legs.

[RubberMallet]

perhaps if he was wearing a jet pack....i mean if the kid was smoking fools by taking 12-15 ft strides then i could see their point...

[PAmedic]

I don't think he has any real advantage.

I mean, c'mon- he has NO LEGS. Not to mention all the hard work he must put in every day.

problem is- he still isn't competing on a level playing field (no pun intended)

you gotta have 2 legs, and compete against other people w/ 2 legs. Otherwise, there's too many variables.

Bottom line: IAAF isn't discriminating to be MEAN, they're discriminating because sports have RULES. Same reason Casey whats-his-face shouldn't be allowed to use a cart in the PGA, IMHO

In the bigger picture: maybe this goes to the current notion of "no absolutes" in this country. Illegal immegrants, cheating in college, lying under oath, stealing from investors, etc.

[Cider Jim]

Great quote...

sprinter who calls himself the fastest man on no legs.

Reminds me the kicker for the Eagles in the 1960s named Dempsey who was missing part of his foot, so his kicking shoe was squared off with a wood block inserted in the toe of the shoe. He has (or had) the NFL record for the longest fieldgoal, and I always wondered how much that costume shoe helped him.

[Sly Fox]

His record FG came while he was a member of the Saints.

[PAmedic]

I believe it was 63 yards.

no doubt that squared off toe helped.

precisely what I'm alluding to, and why sports have rules. (or should)

[RubberMallet]

the problem is where is the line....what if the guys have rods in their arms or legs....should they not be able to compete in olympic events?....what if he didn't have any arms? (which have a fair amount to do with successful running) hed probably not get a whole lot of flack....

i understand why they are leary of this....it makes sense....keep everything the same as much as possible....but seriously....thats impossible....

but yeah their resistance isn't sending me into an outrage..

[Fumblerooskies]

Its not like he's the Bionic Man.

[LUconn]

His legs are like giant leaf springs. I think that would be a bit unfair. They banned Karl Malone from wearing the Catapult shoes in the NBA.

[LUconn]

Or maybe that was L.A Lights.

[RubberMallet]

no catapults were gtg...i had a pair...

when i got them i went over to my friends house who had a basketball hoop and we i jumped with my old shoes and then put on the catapults and apparently i jumped 6 inches higher, when i'm fairly certian it was like an inch and that was only because i tried harder and wanted it to work....

in actuallity a "catapult" at the heal fo the shoe does nothing for your jumping height.

i can see where the lalights would be banned...

and those metal thinks have very little flex in them there was this freak of nature that was running by our house one day and my daughter said hi to him and he stopped so i asked him about them....

[The Rock]

His legs are like giant leaf springs. I think that would be a bit unfair.

Greatest thing I've read in a long time.

[Cider Jim]

Maybe I've read Moby Dick one too many times, but the committee probably wouldn't complain if the guy had whalebone attached to his legs.

Now PETA is another story...

[RubberMallet]

peta is the single worst thing i thing the state of virgina has created....

[Schfourteenteen]

Well you see if they let him in and he does well, there may be a fad among all the sprinters plus Rafael Palmero to take off their legs and use "performance enhancers" like the bent spatula, and the Olympics dont need another problem.

[thepostman]

PETA was created in Virginia???