The IAAF has received the results of an independent scientific study carried out by Professor Peter Brüggemann at the German Sport University in Cologne. This study made a biomechanical and physiological analysis of long sprint running by a double transtibial amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius (RSA) using “cheetah” prosthetics, and also compared this athlete with five able-bodied athletes who are capable of similar levels of performance at 400m.
The tests, which took place on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 November in the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics, were initiated by the IAAF with the approval and participation of Oscar in order to see whether the prosthetics used by him should be considered as technical aids which give him an advantage over other athletes not using them, in contravention of IAAF competition rule 144.2.*
Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee of the legs. He has been competing to get into the Olympics with prosthetics. They won't let him: his prosthetics allow him to use less energy than a normal human when running for a given speed.
Yep, folks, the artificial is better than the natural.
wow.
I heard about this guy on NPR, but the visual really helps. Dang if that ain't eleven kinds of awesome. I mean, I wouldn't want to be a double amputee, but...you know...I want...spring legs.
ReplyDeleteWhat's ironic is that he hasn't even qualify for the Olympics yet, as he's slower than the baseline by like a second.