Cyborg Olympian?
News May 22nd, 2008
I’m already a big fan of A Modern Lei Feng (with articles like “Stuff Laowai like”, how can you resist?), but his recent comments on South African runner Oscar Pistorius are really insightful. Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee who runs on prosthetic legs.
There’s still a major hurdle in that Pistorius must qualify for the team, which would require him shaving down his time by 4 tenths of a second. Despite how little that sounds like, for him to actually achieve that would be very incredible and is nearly impossible. However, there is also the possibility that the South African track and field heads could select him for the relay team, which is picked and doesn’t require qualifying. Doing so would be condemning the South African team to defeat, but as they aren’t expected to be medal contenders to begin with, it could make them (ie Pistorius) the story of this year’s Olympics.
One of the greatest concerns was about the precedent this sets as prosthetic legs, unlike real ones, can only improve with time as science gets more advanced. However, as a lawyer, I have a lot of respect for the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision. The decision applies solely to Pistorius and the prosthetics that he plans to don in Beijing, a new assessment would have to be done on another athlete or if Pistorius changes legs.
If you were the South African track and field heads, what would you do? Choose Pistorius over a more “deserving” athlete? It’s hard to say Pistorius isn’t deserving, but at the same time, he will be able to run (and most likely win gold) in the Paralympics, the person who he will be replacing on the relay team wouldn’t have such a shot. If he can qualify, then the argument is moot, but as it looks like he won’t be able to, its a tough decision.
It’s an interesting dicussion, especially the idea that he may be at an advantage over able-bodied runners with his prosthetic legs.
Via Modern Lei Feng
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Well put. But does anyone know how many 400m runners the South African team has that will qualify for Beijing and that would be ahead of him for the relay? Not heard this anywhere… surely if he were in the top four then the place in the relay is his by rights?
It could also be great marketing for the paralympics. The paralympics doesn’t get too much attention when the Olympics are over. It would be great to see Oscar run. The Olympics needs these kinds of stories this year.
Thanks for the shout out and stopping by my site. What is it about South African disabled people? They already have a disabled female swimmer who will be representing them in the Olympics (or is likely to qualify) and now Oscar. I think its amazing the swimmer (Natalie De Toit(?)) isn’t getting more attention…