iaaf makes foolish decision

last june, i blogged about oscar pistorius, a south african sprinter. for those that don't remember, he is a double amputee who runs using prosthetics. he has been fighting for his right to compete with able bodied athletes.

well, today the iaaf finally ruled on his situation. you see, they've twice postponed their decision. pistorius has officially been banned from competing in the upcoming olympics. he is going to appeal the ruling, but i wonder if the hearing on the appeal will conveniently be postponed until it's too late. the cynic in me already wonders if this is why it took the iaaf so long to rule.

i'll give the iaaf credit for actually studying the problem, even using pistorius in the study. however, i'm not sure that's exactly the biggest sample size. might want to mix in a whole lot more people before you come out with such a ruling. the company that makes the product says it doesn't provide an advantage. pistorius has lost to able bodied runners, as well as defeated some. he was only 2nd in the south african trials.

hey, i think the iaaf has done plenty to try and make sure that people aren't using performance enhancing substances. really, they probably have the best system for testing. and, i think it's possible that prosthetics could give an edge. just today, i was looking @ the ncaa track & field handbook. it's track season, i was seeing if there were any rule changes i needed to be advised of. i saw mention of how they were also changing some rules to stay in line with the usatf and iaaf in the area of shoes and such that could aid an athlete. i just think that they have bungled this situation from early on by trying to ban him without studies, then only conducting one study and acting like it's conclusive. especially given the timing.

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