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2012 London Olympics: Are the Games Ready for Oscar Pistorius?
By Rick Eymer (Featured Columnist) on July 18, 2012 59 reads 0
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Michael Johnson aside, the issue of whether Oscar Pistorius should be allowed to race in the 400 meters at the 2012 London Olympics, as a representative of South Africa, has already been decided.
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Four years ago.
That's when a panel of three judges at the court of arbitration for sport unanimously decided that his current prostheses did not offer him a competitive advantage over able-bodied athletes.
The six-million dollar man was a figment of a writer's imagination.That special javelin designed for 'Lamar Latrell' in the 1984 film "Revenge of the Nerds?" Fiction.
Pistorius has no special powers simply because he employs carbon-fiber blades that often cause blisters instead of actual human legs.
An athlete's competitive spirit cannot be measured by the size or construction of his legs, but by the size and construction of his heart. That's what makes Pistorius special and a reason we need to celebrate the fact he will be the first double-amputee athlete to compete at the Olympics.
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Johnson was a special athlete too. So special the IAAF suddenly changed a long-standing policy and allowed the defending champion in a race special entry to the world championships. That was in 1997, when Johnson was still a household name following the Atlanta Olympics.
Johnson, who brought in big dollars to organizers of such races because of his fame, would not have been able to qualify otherwise. That would be getting an unfair advantage in the minds of many.
Pistorius was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect, and lost his legs before he was even a year old. And he continued to play sports all the same.
It's not like these things are Pistorius' best friends. Sometimes his stumps are rubbed raw from the use.
Pistorius has obviously worked hard to get to this point. The world needs men like him; men that show the courage of their convictions and fight on whatever the odds.
Did Jim Abbott have an unfair advantage? No, he simply overcame some obstacles given to him at birth. Just the kind of thing Pistorius is doing.Think of if this way. His legs can never get any stronger. He can't go to a weight room and work them out. Yet he worked just as hard as any other athlete and deserves the opportunity.
Besides, after LaShawn Merritt wins the gold medal, who cares who finishes second? Pistorius has a personal best of 45.07 in the event, and has gone 45.20 this year. How special is that? It's a mark bettered by 31 athletes.
Is it the device that is unfair or the use of it? Call it an unfair advantage if you must but everyone has the same right to cut off their own legs and get fitted for a similar device, maybe even an improved version.
Perhaps the real issue is what constitutes an "unfair advantage." The ability to attend better schools? To train at the greatest facilities in the world? To grow up with proper nutrition and medical care?
If it was an unfair advantage, why don't more people do it?