Prosthetic-Limbed Runner Disqualified From Olympics

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The Olympics have disqualified that guy with no legs because of his hi-tech prosthetics make him faster than the regular athletes.

Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter, has been denied a shot at the Olympics... for being too fast. The runner -- who uses carbon-fiber, prosthetic feet -- was reviewed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (or IAAF), a review which found the combination of man and machine to be too much for its purely human competitors.
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We can't have a guy with no legs beating our regular steriod using athletes...sheesh!


How damn hard must that be to run on those things in the first place? Can he run in the Special Olympics?
 
I read about this on CNN about a week ago. I'm kind of mixed on this issue. On one hand, it's great to see another handicapped person trying to get ahead and not let his disability slow him down. But on the other hand, well.. I wouldn't be too happy if I knew my competitor was the six million dollar man.

The guy and his limbs manufacturers insist that theres no advantages, but he did break a lot of records and win most races. It's hard to say whether it's extreme efforts or if the limbs in fact do provide advantages.
 
it sucks that he lost his legs, but it would be difficult to *prove* his prosthetics give no advantage. sorry, id have to go with caution on this one.
 
Whilst it sucks, them same kinda of "legs" were on the news about 12 months ago, as a way of getting around, because you could move greater distances at higher speeds, without using as much effort. So i agree with the ban
 
Azhar said:
I read about this on CNN about a week ago. I'm kind of mixed on this issue. On one hand, it's great to see another handicapped person trying to get ahead and not let his disability slow him down. But on the other hand, well.. I wouldn't be too happy if I knew my competitor was the six million dollar man.

The guy and his limbs manufacturers insist that theres no advantages, but he did break a lot of records and win most races. It's hard to say whether it's extreme efforts or if the limbs in fact do provide advantages.
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I'm wondering if his prosthetic legs are in fact a lot lighter than real legs. This would give him a leg (or two) up on the other athletes.

The other guy had a 'nad removed and you see what he accomplished, but the French have been after him since day one. But not for being slightly lighter, mind you.
 
Meh. Those limbs do make you run a ton faster, longer, etc. But damn, give this guy a break. They should standardize prosthetics in to the Olympics.
 
From what I've read in the past his legs are slightly lighter and thus can be moved back and forth (running motion) marginally faster. I wonder if they'd ban a guy with no arms, due to the lighter load he would have to carry around.:rolleyes: What a load of bull, f the olympics.
 
I want to know how can he be at an advantage over the other athletes if his fastest times are 3 seconds outside the qualifying times required to enter the Olympics?
 
they just need to create the Cyborg Olympics.. i would rather watch that then the regular one
 
TheNomad said:
I want to know how can he be at an advantage over the other athletes if his fastest times are 3 seconds outside the qualifying times required to enter the Olympics?
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He would be slower if he had real legs. You can buy these things for normal people too, I think they call them kangaroo legs, but boy you can fly. :D
 
If they did let him compete and he did win would we see an uprise in people taking a chainsaw to their legs? I mean think about it....some people are so competitive that they would prob. cut off their own legs to make get faster. :cool:
 
Love-Man said:
God... I hope you meant to say paralympics. :)
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No, I was being sarcastic (hence the steriod comment as well) ;)

It just kills me that a guy who has to learn to run without legs.... on two flat strips of metal, which has to be impossible to do in the first place, can't run in the Olympics.
 
mitcity22 said:
If they did let him compete and he did win would we see an uprise in people taking a chainsaw to their legs? I mean think about it....some people are so competitive that they would prob. cut off their own legs to make get faster. :cool:
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Yes, unfortunately they would.
 
whrswoldo said:
From what I've read in the past his legs are slightly lighter and thus can be moved back and forth (running motion) marginally faster. I wonder if they'd ban a guy with no arms, due to the lighter load he would have to carry around.:rolleyes: What a load of bull, f the olympics.
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If he was in an arm using event than they would do the same thing.

Would you want to compete against a man with robo arms in a shot put, discus, or javelin competition? Next we will see people with propellers for feet want to compete in the swimming events.

This guy has the crip Olympics made for him, that's where he will stay.
 
From what I've heard from some people who work in the area of prosthetics,it actually takes more physical effort to use the blades than a non-handicapped person would expend.One trainer modified a set of them so a person with legs could use them,he said even pro athletes who tried them out became exhausted just trying to walk with them.
 
SnapperDragon said:
I'm wondering if his prosthetic legs are in fact a lot lighter than real legs. This would give him a leg (or two) up on the other athletes.

The other guy had a 'nad removed and you see what he accomplished, but the French have been after him since day one. But not for being slightly lighter, mind you.
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In addition to the advantage given by using lightweight materials in the prosthetics, there's also the fact that he "should" have a slightly higher cardiovascular advantage as well.. He lost both his legs, so his heart doesn't have to work as hard circulating oxygenated blood throughout his system. Plus, I doubt that he'd be working under a muscle fatigue deficit like the other runners. The situation does kinda suck, but the sponsors have a chance to address this in a responsible fashion (hopefully before the ACLU gets involved).
 
BORG Olympics FTW!!!1111!1 Hell most people they get there legs removed for what ever reason its hard for them to walk let alone haul some major ass down the track. I hope this guys gets a lot of hot chick from this press. :D
 
michael.pa2 said:
From what I've heard from some people who work in the area of prosthetics,it actually takes more physical effort to use the blades than a non-handicapped person would expend.One trainer modified a set of them so a person with legs could use them,he said even pro athletes who tried them out became exhausted just trying to walk with them.
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That's because their bodies are not used to the prosthesis. The reason why our legs do not just crumble when we walk is because it's what they've been doing all our lives. It's always been there and our bodies are accustomed to using them. Now add prosthesis in then it changes everything: balance, equilibrium, etc. But given time the body will adjust to the prosthesis and learn how to use them efficiently. It's the same with this guy, his body has now adjusted (maybe it will adjust more, who knows) and he doesn't expend the same amount of energy now that he did the first time. The prosthesis is now part of his body and the tests done by IOC show that.
 
Steve said:
We can't have a guy with no legs beating our regular steriod using athletes...sheesh!


How damn hard must that be to run on those things in the first place? Can he run in the Special Olympics?
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Probably not, he'd kick those retards asses.... :eek: they barely run the right direction! J/K I know that was mean!!
 
OK so they guy isn't the six million dollar man but we could call him chumpchange.
 
There is absolutely no way you could make this fair. If he wins, naturally everyone will claim it's because of the unfair advantage of his legs. If they force him to make changes to somehow even things out, he will claim they went too far. I could see many of the normal athletes boycotting his races if his times are significantly faster. You would have to have asterisks by every record he broke.

While I admire his spirit and determination, this is one fight that just should not be happening.

Don
 
My prosthetic man-stick gives me an unfair advantage over other men, but I've never been disqualified for it.
 
http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=512/n...prosthetics+offer+clear+mechanical+advantages

The positive work, or returned energy, from the prosthetic blade is close to three times higher than with the human ankle joint in maximum sprinting."

"Pistorius was able to run with his prosthetic blades at the same speed as the able-bodied sprinters with about 25% less energy expenditure."

"The energy loss in the prosthetic blade was measured at 9.3% during the stance phase while the average energy loss in the ankle joint of the able bodied control athletes was measured at 41.4%"
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That's an advantage. Sorry, no, you can't use them.
 
100 agree with ruling.

Maybe we should allow athletes mechanical aids to maintain their momentum? How about we add motors? Should motorized legs be allowed in the Olympics? Maybe a little jet pack?

Lets ignore the fact that the legs weigh less, conserve more mechanical energy, and don't tire. The fact that the IAAF mentioned, that he uses longer then necessary prosthetic to extend his stride, is enough to disqualify him in my mind.
 
Why not make things interesting? Have the Paralympics for disadvantaged athletes, the Olympics for traditional athletes, and the Neuvolympics for bio/cybernetically modified humans? I wonder which would get more coverage...
 
Axewerfer said:
Why not make things interesting? Have the Paralympics for disadvantaged athletes, the Olympics for traditional athletes, and the Neuvolympics for bio/cybernetically modified humans? I wonder which would get more coverage...
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Yeah, yeah and give 'em all guns! I'd watch that.

He shouldn't make a big deal about this since in a "fair" competition no one should have any unnatural advantage like when they use drugs, robotic legs, etc.

It's like entering a cycling competition and complaining that they disqualified you for using a motor and a couple of rockets strapped to your bike. Well duh, no one else uses that so how can it be fair to them?
 
I bet he would kick your butts something terrible if he knew how bad yous were talking about him. I agree with this ruling also. It's pretty straight forward, unless you rely on emotion more than logic. And most of us are men anyway...
 
Its a really hard decision to make I think.
On the one had I can't see it being super easy to run in those things.

On the other than I remember watching a special on this guy and how half the special was how they went into the lab and improved his version of the legs several times to make them lighter and stronger etc etc.
Sounded like while he was doing physical training these are not the same legs you can just get in a store, he was having these things specially designed for him to I dare say enhance his ability.

I don't know enough details, and I applaud him for trying. But I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing.
 
What about a prosthetic head? Human heads are around 8-11 pounds right? Get a carbon fiber head and there will be a pretty big advantage there.
 
I saw a demonstration of the same thing at the fair only they were boots. Its similar to a trampoline where the springs do most of the work to preserve your momentum. I don't think they would be any advantage at the beginning of the race but toward the end when everyones calves are getting tired his are still at 100% because there made of metal.

It would be nice if he could enter and then be eliminated in a qualifying round, but they can't take the risk of him winning the whole thing. Could you imagine the reprecussions, the medals would be dragged into court while every amputee geared up for which ever event there disability gave them an advantage in.
 
I feel bad for the guy, but as a track and field runner I can see the point that he should not be allowed to compete. The Olympics stem from a competition of the human body, not the cyborg-human body. If it's not biological it doesn't belong in the games.
 
I know we all feel sorry for this guy, but you must agree that it isn't fair to the other competitors to allow him to run. It's the equivalent of playing a chess tournament with a computer, or a spelling bee with a dictionary.
 
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