Pistorius cleared for Olympic bid

High&Low

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/mhgbcwcwqlid/

16/05/2008 - 14:08:27
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned a ban on double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius competing against able-bodied athletes – allowing him to immediately run in all International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) sanctioned events.

“I am thrilled with the panel’s findings and hope that it silences many of the crazy theories that have been circulating in recent months about my having an unfair advantage,” said Pistorius this afternoon.

“My focus throughout this appeal has been to ensure that disabled athletes be given the chance to compete and compete fairly with able-bodied athletes. I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics.”

I don't know if this is fair or not, seems like it could be more a "politically correct" decision than anything else. ... but in any event he is not good enough to compete as his PB is only 46.56 and the B qualifying standard is 45.95secs with the A standard 45.55

token56

Agreed, its not as if he would have much of a chance against the likes of Warner with that PB.

thirtyfoot

High&Low wrote: »

http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/mhgbcwcwqlid/


I don't know if this is fair or not, seems like it could be more a "politically correct" decision than anything else. ... but in any event he is not good enough to compete as his PB is only 46.56 and the B qualifying standard is 45.95secs with the A standard 45.55

He has a much bigger mountain to climb now trying to take a second off his PB, best of luck to him.

thirtyfoot

token56 wrote: »

Agreed, its not as if he would have much of a chance against the likes of Warner with that PB.

Well if he runs 45.55 he is entitled to be there. If we based qualification for the Olympic 400 on being able to beat Wariner, we would have only two (and maybe three) athletes on the start line of the heats:D

dna_leri

What if someone comes along in another four years with better blades and more ability than Pistorius, should they be allowed compete with athletes who do not have artificial limbs?

Remember Pistorius is the only athlete who has ever sped up in the second half of a 400m race. It is possible that we may see him compete in the 4x400m relay where the rolling start may compensate for his current slow start.

See http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/ for more discussion on this topic.

2Scoops

dna_leri wrote: »

Remember Pistorius is the only athlete who has ever sped up in the second half of a 400m race. It is possible that we may see him compete in the 4x400m relay where the rolling start may compensate for his current slow start.

As you say, his second half split being quicker is just an artefact of his poor initial acceleration. How do his times over the last 200 measure up to his able-bodied counterparts, do you know?

High&Low

2Scoops wrote: »

As you say, his second half split being quicker is just an artefact of his poor initial acceleration. How do his times over the last 200 measure up to his able-bodied counterparts, do you know?

Even if he has poor initial acceleration due to his disability and the blades, he would still have to exert as much energy at the start as an able-bodied athlete, perhaps even more. The fact then that he can go even faster in the second half of the race points to an advantage from the blades.

One of the arguments from the Pistorius camp was that although there may be an advantage from the blades this is negated by the disadvantages suffered at the start. I don't believe that just because you suffer a disadvantage at the start of a race that you should be allowed "assistance" to compensate at the end of the race. In addition the blades make Pistorius taller than he would naturally be if he had been born with fully functioning legs.

I remember when I saw these blades for the first time, I think it was the Barcelona paralympics and there was controversy, one of the 100m runners using them was 6ft tall before an accident caused him to lose part of both of his legs, the blades made him 6ft 7...

thirtyfoot

2Scoops wrote: »

How do his times over the last 200 measure up to his able-bodied counterparts, do you know?

Don't know his exact splits but the normal split is between 1-2.5 secs I'd reckon. I saw a handtime split of Pistorius and its the opposite which is weird and doesn't make any sense in the normal convention* of 400m running. Normal convention is go through 200 in 1.0-1.5 secs off your 200m best so you are comfortable but closish to a max speed and then come home 1.0-2.5 secs off your opening 200. It weird that this is a great story but if Pistorious came out and starting ripping up 43's and beating Wariner then I would look at it differently, kind of contradictory I know.

*Some athletes do have even splits like that French guy (can't remember his name, big and ran like a horse) and Harry Reynolds but I don't know if their 2nd 200 would be a second faster than their first.