Summer Olympics 2012 (London)

[Zeeshan]

SUMMER OLYMPICS 2012

[Zeeshan]

Inspiration! Hope he makes the cut for Olympics AND WINS GOLD!

Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (born 22 November 1986) is a South African sprint runner. Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius, who has a double amputation, is the world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 metres (sport class T44) events and runs with the aid of Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs by Ossur.

.....

To be selected for the South African team to compete at the Olympic Games in London, Oscar must again run inside the 400m ‘A’ standard of 45.25 seconds between January and June 2012.

Wikipedia

[Zeeshan]

What came as a shock to me, is that Bangladesh never qualified for Olympics. Apparently they made it through because of wildcard selection process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_at_the_Olympics

[F6_Turbo]

I hope he doesn't.

It is a nice puff story...made for ESPN 30 for 30. But him competing in the Olympics would be a travesty. I admire his hunger, his dedication, his will, and without doubt his skill(after all not everyone with blades is competing at this level)

BUT

He very definitely gets an advantage from his blades, and such should only be allowed to compete in the Paralympics.

[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by F6_Turbo
I hope he doesn't.

It is a nice puff story...made for ESPN 30 for 30. But him competing in the Olympics would be a travesty. I admire his hunger, his dedication, his will, and without doubt his skill(after all not everyone with blades is competing at this level)

BUT

He very definitely gets an advantage from his blades, and such should only be allowed to compete in the Paralympics.

Please. There really is no advantage from the blades because it cancels out the disadvantages from his handicap.

And if he makes the 400m cut then why should there be any objections? And relegating him to undertake only in Paraolympics screams of discrimination akin to "oh that man should only compete with bulky, muscular African or say, Mongoloid race, because race provides certain advantage".

Imo, it'd open a dimension and not just make it a "travesty".

[F6_Turbo]

Gotta run, I'll be back in a couple of hours, and post a detailed description from his OWN experts as to why he has an advantage, and one that is telling.