Sunday, May 18, 2008

A runner with no legs...


Now I am not a sport fan of such, but today I was watching an interview with South African runner Oscar Pistorius... trick is he has no legs (he had them amputated as a child).

But he does have these amazing wazmadoodle prosthetic legs! It was breathtaking to watch the footage of him run - he is a true athelete.

He just won an appeal to run at the able-body Olympics. He is that good. He had to undergo scientific tests to see how much of an 'advantage' having prosthetic legs are. Even though it was proven he has a greater spring in his step than the average human ankle, 'Blade Runner' is in, he will be allowed to compete!

Makes you wonder what makes a race a race, competition, competition and a competitor a competitior?
what do you do when your 'own kind' are no competition to you? if chicks start running heaps faster than the rest of the women do you reckon they can race with men, so the get some healthy competition? Or does the IOC create a free-for-all race?

2 comments:

psychodougie said...

a lecturer once said there'd be a day when people would want to amputate legs in the pursuit of speed.
whilst i can't see that happening, especially as you can't easily walk around in those magnificent flex-feet, there are obvious limitations in the human body that innovative scientists surely can't resist tinkering with.

i mean, who wouldn't love to be wolverine?

Hayley said...

So I could run but not walk?

That'd be exhausting, but potentially a timesaver!