oscar pistorius

just watched an interesting piece on espn's outside the lines about oscar pistorius. don't konw who he is? not surprising. not only is he a track athlete, he's one without legs. he's gaining a lot of attention because he is taking the paraolympic world by storm. super dooper fast. world record fast for para-athletes. but, he's also getting attention because he's putting up times that are comparable to "able bodied" athletes. which has people wondering if the prosthetics are aiding him.

the iaaf will vote in july whether or not to allow athletes compete with such prosthetics alongside non-prosthetic wearing athletes. the issue, again, is whether or not there is any advantage, something that can be proved or disproved through biomechanical studies.

i've seen a US para-athlete compete alongside other athletes @ a track meet. if i remember correctly, he only had one prosthesis. but he ran well and i think he long jumped, too. but, he wasn't in the fastest heats. it's my feeling that there isn't a benefit, and if there were people would expose it quickly and make a big stink about those using it (like steriods). i'm not saying that people wouldn't knowingly use an unfair advantage because it repeatedly has been shown to happen. but i don't think these are aids. studies should prove this.

two side notes:
he lives in pretoria. so does my brother, sister & their lil ones. so, they should make it a small goal to see this guy run.
they've only caught 66 (68?) athletes using steriods during the olympics