Date:21/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/21/stories/2007122156672200.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Prosthetic legs an advantage for a sprinter?

Monaco: The IAAF has received a scientific report assessing whether the prosthetic limbs of double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius give him an unfair advantage.

The IAAF, which must decide whether Pistorius is eligible to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Beijing Olympics, said on Wednesday that it had sent the biomechanical analysis to the South African runner’s representatives.

The International Association of Athletics Federations said it would not comment on the report before January 10.

The IAAF commissioned the report in July from Prof. Peter Bruggemann, and tests took place last month at the German Sport University in Cologne.

Pistorius — who runs on curved, carbon-fibre prosthetic blades attached below the knees — wants to race in the 400 meters in Beijing. He holds Paralympic world records in the 100m, 200m and the 400m.

To reach the 2008 Olympics, Pistorius would have to run the 400 in 45.95 seconds before the July 2008 qualifying deadline. His personal best is 46.56.

The 21-year-old Pistorius — nicknamed the “Blade Runner” — competed in the 400 at two international-level able-bodied meets in 2007.

He finished second in a ‘B’ race in 46.90 seconds at the Golden League meet in Rome on July 13 and, two days later, was disqualified for running out of his lane in Sheffield, England. — AP