Word: pistorius
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...only a matter of time before the challenge of Oscar Pistorius would run headlong into our cherished notions of what's equal, what's fair and what's the difference between...
...competition proves we are not, or else every race would end in a tie. We talk about a level playing field because it's the least we can do in the face of nature's injustice. Some people are born strong or stretchy, or with a tungsten will. But Pistorius' advantage comes from what nature left out and technology replaced: his body ends at the knees, and from there to the ground it's a moral puzzle...
Born in South Africa without major bones in his legs and feet, he had his lower legs amputated before he was a year old. As he grew up, so did the science of prosthetics. Now 21, Pistorius runs on carbon-fiber blades known as Cheetahs. He won gold in the 200 m at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, breaking 22 sec.; but now his eye is on the Olympics in Beijing. It was up to the world body that governs track and field, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), to determine whether using Cheetahs is cheating...
...runner's stride is not perfectly efficient. Ankles waste energy?much more, it turns out, than Pistorius' J-shaped blades. He can run just as fast using less oxygen than his competitors (one describes the sound Pistorius makes as like being chased by a giant pair of scissors). On Jan. 14, following the findings of the researcher who evaluated him, the IAAF disqualified Pistorius from Olympic competition. He is expected to appeal, arguing that the science of advantage is not that simple. Tom Hanks is interested in his life story. No matter what happens next, Pistorius is changing the nature...
...traditional stump and socket--that is made of carbon fiber, which has the ability to spring back to its original shape after it is bent. This same technique is often used to make prostheses for human runners, like the ones designed for the famous double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius. "Carbon fibers have a shape that will always come back," says Rick Nitsch, a prosthetist from American Orthopedics in Columbus, Ohio, who designed Stumpy's bouncy leg four years...