Technology Wins: Blade Runner Amputee Barred From Olympics
OSCAR Pistorius has no legs. How does he run? Fast.
The International Association of Athletics Federations has ruled that Pistorius’s state-of-the-art carbon fiber prosthetics “should be considered as technical aids which give him an advantage over other athletes not using them.”
[German professor Gert-Peter] Brueggemann found that Pistorius was able to run at the same speed as able bodied runners on about a quarter less energy. He found that once the runners hit a certain stride, athletes with artificial limbs needed less additional energy than other athletes.
The professor found that the returned energy ”from the prosthetic blade is close to three times higher than with the human ankle joint in maximum sprinting.”…
Pistorius was born without fibulas — the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle — and was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee.
Is this an unfair advantage? Or is it just that technology is better then nature?
Posted: 14th, January 2008 | In: Back pages Comments (7) | TrackBack | Permalink
