Wonders Never Cease: Double Amputee Barred From Olympics For Having An Unfair Advantage
Oscar Pistorius was born without fibulae and had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday. He has now made a permanent mark on sports history – but of the most unlikely sort:
An athlete with no legs has been banned from this year’s Olympic Games because he has a “significant advantage” over able-bodied competitors.
South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who runs with carbon fibre blades attached to his legs, will not be allowed to compete in Beijing…
The IAAF’s ruling council agreed that Pistorius should not be allowed to run in Beijing or in any other meeting sanctioned by the world governing body….
“Pistorius was able to run with his prosthetic blades at the same speed as the able-bodied sprinters with about 25 percent less energy expenditure,” the report concluded.
Astonishing.
It was only a matter of time before technology caught up with the Hollywood hype of the $6 million dollar man. If they didn’t ban this, then some ultra competitive person would have his legs amputated to get the edge.
On the other hand, I suspect it won’t be to long that we start having sporting events geared towards these sort of man-machine fusions.
Why so astonishing, Dodd? Bleeding heart liberals like you crack me up! If he expends less energy and is able to move his replacement legs faster, then that is an unfair advantage. Period. What’s next? Would you let a guy in a pedal or motorized wheelchair in? What about a rolling bed? Heck why not a car if he can prove he can’t walk!
Running races are for people with legs. It is tragic the guy lost his legs, but that’s part of the tragedy: not being able to run in races. End of story.
Seeing Dodd called a “bleeding heart liberal” cracks me up.
McGehee,
People who think “you’re a bleeding heart liberal” is the same as presenting a cogent, well-balanced argument based on valid premises–crack me up!
Most of the time, if you ask these morons what ad hominem means, they’ll tell you it’s about a room addition.
Seeing Dodd called a “bleeding heart liberal” cracks me up.
Indeed. First time for everything, I suppose. But it won’t last. Doubtless someone will call me a fascist before the week’s out and restore the world to its proper balance.
For the record, it’s Mr. Pistorius’s story I find astonishing, not the IAAF’s ruling (which seems entirely reasonable to me; certainly more reasonable than the US Supreme Court deciding that they’re better qualified than the PGA to make that organization’s rules and ordering them to let Casey Martin ride in a golf cart to play in their tournaments).
I would have expected that my titling this post “Wonders Never Cease” would have made my overall impression on the matter clear; apparently I was mistaken.
Don’t sweat it Dodd, I think everyone understood your point. Except Christopher, but that is hardly surprising.
wow, I stumbled into a circle jerk of you guys!
Look, Dodd presented the post in such a way that he was astonished that a ruling was made to disallow this guy competing. I naturally assume that Dodd therefore disagrees with the decision, hence my calling him a lib.
Gee, Dodd, I guess if you don’t write what you mean, then it is hard for people to actually know what you mean! Heck, I don’t even know who you are since I haven’t seen you post on OTB before (where I have failed to find anyone of you that is a true conservative thinker, so again, I have to assume…)