Oscar's blades are not the thin end of the wedge.
Oscar Pistorius, South Africa's double amputee sprinter, can use his blade-shaped artificial limbs to try to qualify for the Olympic Games.
But yesterday's ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, striking down the ban against his prosthetic legs, does not open the door for all athletes with disabilities to compete the Olympics, the CAS said.
In delivering a unanimous decision, the CAS tribunal limited the scope of its ruling to Mr. Pistorius and the specific Cheetah blades that allow him to run with the pack of two-legged athletes.
That caveat couldn't stem a sense of celebration among athletes with disabilities. Mr. Pistorius is not yet heading to the Games – the minimum Olympic qualifying time is 45.95 seconds, and Mr. Pistorius's personal record is 46.46 – but he has an unencumbered path to them.
“As you can imagine, I have been struggling to hide my smile …,” the man dubbed the Blade Runner told reporters in Milan, Italy. “I can definitely say the truth has come out. We have the opportunity once again to chase my dream of participating in an Olympics, if not in 2008 then in 2012.”
Jeff Kessler, whose Milan- and New-York-based law firm took on Mr. Pistorius's high-profile fight on a pro bono basis, said the ruling opens the door to equality.
“This is the first case in which an athlete who is only able to compete at all because of prosthetics – Oscar can't even walk without them – has been granted a fair chance to compete.”
Mr. Pistorius, a 21-year-old business management student from Pretoria, was born without the fibula bones in his lower legs, which were amputated when he was 11 months old. But he lived a sporting lifestyle nonetheless, and took up running four years ago as rehabilitation after a rugby injury. He became a Paralympic star and a world-record holder.
He was closing in on the Olympic qualifying time for the 400 metres when the International Association of Athletics Federations banned him early this year from competing against able-bodied athletes. The IAAF cited an analysis by a German professor, Gert-Peter Brueggemann, showing that Mr. Pistorius needed 30 per cent less effort to run than an able-bodied athlete because of the springy blades.
The CAS rejected the IAAF study after looking at new independent research. It chided the track body for instructing the German professor to focus only on the fastest, smoothest part of Mr. Pistorius's run. The IAAF ignored the more difficult start and acceleration phases and “created a distorted view” of any advantage or disadvantage. That skewed the analysis and called its validity into question, the CAS said.
Mr. Pistorius's goal has been to run as part of a South African 4 x 400-metre relay team at Beijing and also to run in the Paralympic Games.
Earl Church, the Canadian Para-Athletics head coach, called the CAS decision “really significant and great to see. He's going to ring a lot of bells around the world.
“What it's pointing out is the ability of people with disabilities … [The] Olympics are supposed to be a celebration of human achievement. So let's not debate; let's celebrate.”
Canada's track and field head coach Les Gramantik warned that technology shouldn't govern sport achievement.
“The average guy on the street hears someone say [Mr. Pistorius] has an advantage and he thinks, ‘The guy has no legs. You're out of your mind.' But with the Cheetah legs, it's an extremely well-designed piece of equipment.
“It could lead to things we don't want to see in sports. I'm not saying we're going to see scientists build a $6-million man and have him shot put. But the technology … is so good.
“I spoke to a scientist today, and he said, ‘I can build a prosthetic for any athlete that can make for an advantage.' ”
