By Brian Brown
NBC Olympics on assignment for Rock Center
Come with me to South Africa …
Come with me to a track meet in a wind-whipped city flush against the roiling Indian Ocean … Port Elizabeth.
A 400-meter race is about to be run. Eight athletes are walking to the starting line. Seven of them have legs.
One does not.
Or more correctly, one has legs that conclude at the knees. And this athlete – even just walking – is riveting to watch.
At first, Oscar Pistorius seems like someone who has stepped out of the future.
His gait has the quality of a giant cat on the prowl, if such a creature were equipped with flipper-like feet instead of paws. The means of Oscar’s motion do take the name of a big cat: they’re called Cheetahs. And these Flex-foot Cheetah blades – black, L-shaped, made of carbon fiber – do provoke thoughts of altered, amped-up super beings from a James Cameron science-fiction epic.
As Oscar approaches, model handsome, outfitted in the latest Oakley shades and sleek Nike sportswear, with an admirably sculpted upper body, you can understand why anyone might wonder if this is a peek into our evolutionary future: half man, half machine. Just the words carbon fiber conjure the notion of cutting-edge, space-age technology.
Behind The Scenes: Oscar Pistorius
Aliza Nadi
But if you stay with this scene a little longer, you notice something more. Something flawed about his futuristic-looking prosthetics. Pistorius is walking very carefully, not at all with the steady carefree confidence of a cheetah, but more like a teetering circus performer on stilts, locked in a balancing act that requires immense concentration.
In fact, as you learn when you visit Oscar Pistorius in South Africa, you find out that forward motion atop vertical boomerangs requires supreme balance to keep from tipping over. You’re told that carbon fiber is nothing new, has actually been around for 60 years, well before we put a man on the moon. You learn that Oscar’s Cheetah blades were made nearly 20 years ago. You learn that they do not at all turn Oscar into a springy human pogo stick. In fact, when you try to bend an unattached Cheetah blade, you understand that carbon fiber is nearly rock hard and largely inflexible – it does not contain an internal spring.
You also later learn that this man walking toward you … the one who appeared at first to be like a visitor from a future century … is likely in pain. When any amputee walks with their prosthetic devices, there is often soreness, sometimes even a degree of discomfort no amount of painkillers can relieve. It remains a fundamental engineering problem to seamlessly connect skin and bones with a man-made device – though the industry is doing its best to improve the interface: the pocket where the amputated limb meets the prosthetic.
Aliza Nadi
Running with prosthetics makes the problem worse – Cheetahs are meant for sports, not extended wear. That’s why as soon as every race is over, the first thing Oscar Pistorius does is plop himself down on a patch of grass to switch his legs: exchanging his jet-black blades for a more-humanlike skin-colored pair.
When you are able to meet and listen to Oscar Pistorius, and listen to and learn from the remarkable people who have been supporting his unprecedented aspiration to be the first amputee to ever run at the Olympics, you come to understand that Oscar is not at all, in any sense, a man out of the future.
You learn that real legs are really, really better than the replacements that science has made thus far … that tendons, ligaments and muscles do far greater things than a prosthetic device made from technology that is decades old.
You learn that if Oscar Pistorius was truly bionic, if his artificial limbs had sensors and muscle-like actuation and computational intelligence, he would not only be bionic but he’d also be unbeatable. And though a bionic age may arrive before the conclusion of the 21st century, it won’t be tomorrow.
NBC Olympics: Everything you need to know about double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius
And you learn some other truths about his attempt to reach the 2012 London Games:
A truth: Though in 2008, after two days of testing, the IAAF – track’s world governing body – ruled Pistorius had an advantage over able-bodied competitors, that decision was reversed only months later on appeal, when The Court of Arbitration for Sport voted unanimously that Pistorius had no advantage. In their findings, the CAS noted an IAAF process that had gone “off the rails” in a rush to judgment. The CAS's decision, now more than four years old, still stands.
A truth: There is no scientific consensus that Oscar is at a competitive advantage. In fact, the most extensive testing on the subject was instigated by Pistorius himself, who – to help build his case before the CAS – flew 9,000 miles to Houston, where experts submitted him to nearly three weeks of scientific tests.
Aliza Nadi
A truth: Oscar Pistorius is always playing catch-up against able-bodied runners. When the gun goes off, Oscar’s blades don’t react with the explosiveness of the human leg. It takes him a few moments to churn his Cheetahs to top speed. In the short distance of sprint events, like the 400 meters, fast starts are crucial. And there is little Pistorius can do about immediately losing contact with the field.
A truth: As thousands of Paralympians in recent decades have defied their disabilities, only one disabled athlete has run the 400 meters fast enough to dream that he might, possibly, one day qualify for an Olympic Games. That one person is Oscar Pistorius.
A truth: When you visit South Africa, you see that Oscar’s fellow athletes see him not as a threat, but simply as a competitor to beat. And when you see him swarmed by children black and white and brown, you understand that he is a vital figure of unity for a country that is still fitfully trying to dissolve racial divides.
A final truth: Oscar Pistorius is a figure of inspiration and healing, not at all the first of an army of unbeatable, artificially enhanced athletes. More likely, he’s the first and last of a kind … one of one.
He is one step away, one race away from the summit of his remarkable journey: a spot on the South African Olympic team for the 2012 London Games. And though the math of his sport is pretty simple, for Pistorius it should be utterly implausible: run the 400 meters faster than all but a handful of people in the entire world.
This Saturday, at the Adidas Grand Prix, Pistorius comes to the media capital of America, to New York, to secure that spot. And when this mesmerizing figure carefully walks cat-like onto the track at Randall’s Island, he’ll be able to look across the East River at Manhattan’s cityscape, an image of soaring possibility that has long summoned great achievers from across the globe.
45.30 seconds. That’s how fast Pistorius has to run one lap of the track. There may not be more than two dozen people in the entire world who can run that fast right now. But Pistorius has gone even faster in this event, and he is more deeply driven than ever to do it again … this man whose defective lower legs were amputated in infancy … who has never known what it is like to walk on two feet … this double amputee who has never ever thought of himself as one bit disabled.
Here’s a final truth: Don’t feel in the least bit apologetic about rooting your heart out for Oscar Pistorius. To give global notice to such spirit is the essential purpose of the Olympic Games.
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When he wins gold, I will get up from my big comfy chair and turn off the Olympics.
If he runs I will certainly not watch the event.
Another product of Aperture Science.
Android Olympics here we come.
Why the doubt and suspicion? His artificial legs have been tested, and proven that they do not give him any advantage. If he qualifies for the Olympics I say more power to him.
As a person who ran 1980 Olympiad with a visual impairment.. well, did my not being able to see my relay partners until I was atop them stop the US team from word medals in the 4x400? I had the team in the lead in the 4X100 we lost to Mexico.Should another runner have bonked me simply because I had to run wearing my thick heavy glasses? In Jackies book is the hilarious account of my falling over hurdles, because she forgot to cue me they were there.
If a deaf ball player can play in the College world series, a visually impaired Runner run, l I personally commend this runner and wish him the best.
The paralympics are for those who need a higher level of sport. But if you can hack it you are free to try your luck on the bigger stage. Sure when I pole vaulted (giving the US team its first qualification in that discipline), there WERE a lot of jokes I should Polevault for the Paralympic team, until I won the competetion.
The two cases you state, your glasses, and the deafness of the ball player, do not give the athlete a competitive advantage for locomotion. In a running event, these synthetic legs could most definitely yield a competitive advantage. If a runner with normal legs asked to use a type of shoe that had some kind of mechanism not fully understood, I think they would denied.
I work with the design of orthopedic implants and I know a little about prosthetic devices. I would say that there are definite advantages to having the Cheetah prosthesis in a sprinting race, that's why they were designed. Having said that, nothing comes close to replacing natural limbs in more conventional circumstances. I hate to be a dream crusher, but I just don't think it is fair to anyone if he is allowed to race in the Olympics.
I give him a world of credit, and no doubt he is a world class athlete.
But, if he gets no advantage from those legs, then why doesn't he wear the pair that he puts on after the race that are more comfortable...because he would run slower?
No, because they would break.
These prosthetics should not be allowed.
this is a non race.
you think STEROIDS are a problem with athletic competition ? - berrylium copper legs are much the same.
the rest have carbon-based organic materials such as bone, flesh, ganglia you know - HUMAN stuff.
So the race is moronic.
Duhh.
I'm handicapped so this, in my opinion, is not offensive.
in short - cheers to the one with the cheater legs. Not.
good going bouncy boy, but this is a stacked race and you KNOW it.
sorry I cant bring you garlands of heroism and accolades of superhumanhood.
THat would also be, in my opinion, inappropriate.
sorry for your loss, dude.
HEY WILD P...........you mention that you are handicapped. Physically or mentally? You do not specify. Sounds mental to me. Get a grip dude. Take your dark clouds and comments someplace else.
This is inspiring. But, the one question i would ask toward determining the issue of "fairness" is:
• if these 'blades' are improved somehow, in an updated version, wouldn't that result in a performance increase, above what he is using now?
If so, then one must determine if these blades are being characterized in the rulings as "athletic footware." In which case, i am not aware of rules prohibiting tech advances. But, surely there is a 'line' somewhere. Just as in swimming, certain types of high-tech suits were banned. Just as in basketball, where there are rules about the types of goggles that may be worn.... As in baseball, where bat standards are specified.
If not now, Pistorius could, at some point in the tech development, gain an advantage. Do we have to wait until he's actually winning medals to decide this matter?
Mind you, i'm arguing this strictly in terms of objective merits. I'd like to see him race, but only out of curiosity and to admire the feat. But, i don't believe there is a sound rationalization for him to be admitted.
As a former athletic I find it offensive to use pit fit prosetics athlets against athletes who use natural limbs. I hhave seen prostetic atjletes jump 8-10 feet in the air and to pit them with a natural born athletic is way unfair.
This is a very interesting man with a compelling story. Too bad the author is such an inarticulate moron.
An inspiring story by any measure. I don't know about the bionics part, but as a wheelchair confined person who plays pool I get the same type of "advantage" comments in that I'm lower to the table. Therefore, I can see the balls better! Yet put the cueball beyond half-table and I can't reach it while playing a guy 6'5"" who easily bends over to reach it. Regardless, the man is remarkable.
This guy is amazing, and inspiration to the rest of us "able bodied" people that can't or won't run a lap! (Myself included.) I hope he wins because there is no limit to the grit needed to get up every day without legs for God's sakes, and go out there and train to RUN! God bless him. I am in awe.
good for him.....I know he can outrun me with no problem.
An amazing athlete! He definitely should be allowed to compete in the Olympics if he qualifies. It's really something that some people think he has an advantage...if he does have an advantage, it's not in his artificial legs, it's in his head and heart.
Forget the article. The author is entitled to his observation. I just can't believe this guys spirit. I'll be rooting for him.
GO OSCAR GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GOLD BABY GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps he'll get, er rusty
I must agree with many that the story is inspiring.
However, since it would be next to impossible to properly and consistently measure the amount of performance change (whether loss or gain) it is inherently unfair to allow him to compete against the other athletes.
When ever i hear of 'scientific this, scientific that' the stat analyst in me asks where is the 'Gauge Study'? I.e. what did they measure, how did they measure, when, by whom, and were the results repeatable (get the same measure of the same thing by the same person doing the measuring at a different time) and reproducible (get the same measurements of the same thing by a different person).
Short of measuring a person, then amputating their legs and replacing with blades and re-measuring (full of issues besides the obvious - lack of a volunteer) there is no way to determine, to any reasonable degree, whether there an advantage or not.
To add to the slippery slope argument, should we allow an injured athlete to use steroids to bring them back to the same level as they were before their injury? Why not? That is essentially what is being done here. The problem, as many would argue, is that it would be impossible to judge when the athlete has had enough of the substance to make up for their injury, but not so much to give them an advantage. Essentially an impossible task.
As was mentioned, what happens when there is new technology to be used in the legs? Are only 'approved legs' allowed? Who approves them? To what standard?
Sorry, the only right thing to do not allow him to compete.
What about the circulatory system? He has to have an advantage there
Amazing athlete! My opinion... he should NOT be allowed to compete. I believe he has an advantage. His lower half is nearly weightless (minus muscle, contraction, circulation, etc) allowing him to sprint at faster speed... he brings an outside element (not human) to the competition. how will the decision to allow him to compete affect other sports of the Olympics. Micheal Phelps and his aero dynamic crafted speedo's, etc. they all should be "like" competitors with Olympic distributed clothing. Let's keep the Olympics fair and equal!
I don't blame the Olympics as Oscar his human talent that others might not like. His legs don't to anything more then human legs. He a cutie too. Now his Mother was a women to be proud of and was blessed with her children. I hope Oscar is allowed to join the games he would be a hero to all.
He's a baby killer, what mom would be proud.
Ray -
Huh? While I support him as an athlete (although I don't believe he should be allowed to compete) I have to wonder what info you have that has not been shared here.
Pleas enlighten us.
If his prosthetics were so much of an advantage, then there would be a swarm of amputees competing and surpassing the athletes with two legs. A lot of the comments on this article show more about the person posting the comment that reflecting anything onto Oscar. I'll support him in the Olympics.