The Hindu : Sport : Disabled athlete may be too fast for his own good

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Disabled athlete may be too fast for his own good

Rohit Brijnath

It is ridiculous to assume Pistorius is not so much ‘disabled’ but ‘more abled’

— Photo: AFP

BLUR OF MOTION: South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius, with his unique prosthetics and the results he is achieving, has set off a debate within the sporting community.

It is something, isn’t it, that the most contentious argument in athletics this year concerns the speed of a runner who has no legs.

Oscar Pistorius is 20, brave and, perhaps, too fast for his own good. He is a double amputee, who runs on carbon fibre feet, and wants to run in Beijing. Not in the Paralympics where he is already a gold medallist. But in the Olympics. Like any other man.

But not everyone is convinced he should run in the Olympics, against able-bodied athletes, because they feel he is ‘not’ any other man, but an athlete whose prosthetics give him a technological advantage.

Stirring and tragic

Pistorius’ story is as stirring as it may be eventually tragic; it is a debate bustling with raw emotion and cool science; it is a tale of the collision of technology and sport; and it is a journey into the heart of what we understand as even competition.

Born without fibulas, Pistorius underwent a double amputation, below the knee, as a baby. Now he is fast enough to come second in the 400 metres at the able-bodied South African nationals. This is a fine athlete (10.91 in the 100, 21.58 in the 200), of artificial legs but real skills.

It seems absurd to believe a man with no legs has an advantage over ‘able-bodied’ athletes, ridiculous to assume he is not so much ‘disabled’ but ‘more abled’. It is why the instinctive reaction to the idea Pistorius may be banned from the Olympics is dismay.

The Cheetahs

If anything, Pitorius appears disadvantaged. His prosthetics called Cheetahs rest uneasily on starting blocks, his start is ungainly and he requires 20-30 metres to gain momentum. It is argued his blades do not grip as thoroughly on wet tracks nor do they respond well in the wind. Stability is hard, still he has timed 46.34 in the 400 (India’s national record for able-bodied athletes is 45.48).

But scientific men are asking pertinent questions. Already there is conjecture that Pistorius’ stride is longer, and more repeated, than for a man his height, and that his prosthetics are lighter, springier and of course absent of lactic acid build-up. It is agreed he starts slowly, but argued that he finishes too fast.

Casey’s case

It is not the first time sport is in a quandary. Casey Martin, a golfer with a degenerative leg condition that made walking 18 holes untenable, went to the courts to be allowed a motorised cart in tournaments. Golfers with world-class paunches objected, whining that walking was fundamental to golf, but a judge ruled Casey’s way.

Casey, like all men, has the right to compete, and the cart was perhaps an attempt to level the playing field. Wearing a hi-tech prosthetic similarly might be the only way for Pistorius to hold his own.

Anyway, it might be said a level playing field is a myth, with richer countries testing their athletes in sophisticated labs and toughening their minds through psychologists, while athletes from lesser nations cannot even afford spikes.

The rebuttal to this is that none of these technological aids are carried onto the field as is the case with Pistorius’ legs.

Compelling dilemma

Pistorius presents a compelling dilemma. Is it okay that he wears Cheetahs only for running? If an athlete is half-a-second quicker in six months how much of it is hard work and how much a sleeker new prosthetic? As an International Amateur Athletic Federation official has been quoted as saying: “We’re worried that he (Pistorius) could be in a situation where he could go to his manufacturer just as in Formula One and say ‘make me faster’.”

But is it fair to ban him for an advantage derived from the prosthetic without calculating the disadvantage of being a double amputee? Will his uniqueness be factored in, for it is not as if a bunch of suddenly gifted amputees on space-age prosthetics are lining up to challenge able-bodied athletes.

Ideal Olympian

Soon, the IAAF will reveal whether Pistorius (who hasn’t qualified for Beijing yet) is eligible for the Olympics. But in a way it does not matter, for Pistorius is already the very ideal of the Olympian. Whatever the springiness of a carbon-fibre foot, it pales before the strength of this human’s spirit.

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