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IAAF: Pistorius may compete
22/06/2007 18:13 - (SA)
Celean Jacobson
Pretoria - Champion amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius can compete against the world's best able-bodied athletes while researchers try to determine whether his prosthetics give him an unfair advantage.
A spokesperson for the Monaco-based International Association of Athletics Federations, Nick Davies, said discussion of Pistorius competing in the Olympics was premature, noting the 20-year-old sprinter had not yet achieved the kind of times that would allow him to qualify.
"Oscar can compete. No one can stop him running," Davies said.
Pistorius's manager Peet Van Zyl, said he had heard from Davies and called his overture an about-face.
The IAAF introduced a new rule in March, banning any runner deemed to benefit from artificial help from competing. That had widely been interpreted as scuttling Pistorius's hopes of being the first disabled runner to compete in the Olympic Games, with his sights set on Beijing in 2008.
Van Zyl said Pistorius now had to get into "tiptop" shape for his international debut.
The 20-year-old Pistorius, who was born without fibula bones in his lower legs and was only 11 months when limbs were amputated from below the knee, said he hadn't yet been able to process the news.
Blades give him no advantage
He said: "I have just been putting all my energy in training.
"I want to go forward and I can't if I have to compete only at a local level. The way to go forward is by running against people faster than me," said Pistorius, dubbed "Blade Runner" because of the shape of the feet at the end of his carbon fiber legs and "the fastest man on no legs."
Davies said the March rule had been misinterpreted. It prohibits the "use of any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides the user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device." It was aimed at sophisticated gadgets manufacturers add to the shoes of top athletes.
Banning Pistorius "was never the purpose of the rule. It was never the intention. It would have been unfair," Davies said.
Pistorius, a business student from Pretoria, is adamant his blades give him no advantage or extra energy and that his stride is no longer than anyone else's.
"They are passive devices. If anything I am at more of a disadvantage. I have no ankles. There is less blood flowing through my body. I have no calf muscles so I have to use more muscles to do what they would," he said. "These exact feet have been used for 14 years and there has never been a paralympic sprinter to run my times."
He says his success on the track is down to talent and training.
Pistorius has clocked 10.91 seconds in the 100m, 21.58s in the 200m and 46.56s in the 400m.
Those are world records for disabled athletes, and he finished second in the 400m at the South African Championships - the able-bodied meet held in March.
More concerned about doping
His times are still short of the 46.3s in the 400m that he needs to qualify for the Olympics, but he hopes he can improve before July 2008 deadline for meeting qualification requirements.
General manager of Athletics South Africa, Linda Ferns, would like to see a scientific resolution to Pistorius's case and said she was aware the IAAF was undertaking research.
Renowned sports scientists Tim Noakes said: "He is unique.
"He has balance because he learnt to walk on prosthetics from a young age and can use the equipment effectively.
"I have very high regard for what he has achieved."
Noakes, who has consulted with Pistorius but has no formal relationship with him, believes that disabled athletes could be competing in the next Olympics.
He is more concerned about the high amount of doping in sports and feels these aides don't give athletes as much, if any of an advantage, compared with taking steroids.
- AP
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