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Pistorius unlikely to succeed
09/01/2008 15:21 - (SA)
London - South African Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who runs with carbon fibre blades attached to his legs, appears unlikely to win approval on Thursday for his bid to compete against able-bodied runners at the Beijing Olympics.
The International Association of Athletics Federations
(IAAF) has refused to make any comment on a report due for
release on Thursday, but remarks from the expert who supervised
tests on Pistorius suggest the man known as the "blade runner"
will be disappointed.
"He has a considerable advantage compared with athletes
without prosthetic limbs who have undergone the same tests,"
Professor Peter Bruggeman of the Institute of Biomechanics at
the German Sport University of Cologne told Die Welt newspaper.
"The difference is several percentage points and I did not think the findings would be so conclusive."
In 2007, the IAAF amended its rules to ban the use of "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device".
'Unfair advantage'
Experts studied video analysis of Pistorius and other
runners after IAAF president Lamine Diack said the athlete had
improved so much that his prosthetics needed to be analysed
carefully.
"We cannot permit technical aids that give one athlete an
unfair advantage over another," Diack said in a statement.
Pistorius, 21, who holds the double amputee world records in
the 100, 200 and 400m, said in a statement that he had
welcomed the investigation.
"There is much at stake personally and for the future of all amputee athletes and I applaud the IAAF for recognising that," he said.
"By aligning experts from prosthetics and biomechanics I
believe we will be able to put this issue to rest one way or the
other."
Last July Pistorius ran in the 400 B race at the Golden Gala
in Rome, finishing second. Two days later he finished last in
wet conditions in Sheffield, Britain, and was then disqualified
for running out of his lane.
He won a gold and bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
- Reuters
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