Pegleg Pistorius sweeps the decks
Great news for Oscar Pistorius, South African sport, and disabled athletes everywhere. The fastest guy on no legs… okay, sorry. I’ve used that line before. But the International Association of Athletics Federation’s ruling earlier this year that said the carbon fibre prosthetics he uses gave him an advantage over athletes with legs — which never did make physics sense to me — has been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. This raises the possibility that the Blade Runner might yet make it to the Olympic Games in Beijing, although he’d have to slice a fair bit off his current times in the sprint events to qualify. Either way, he has the letters of marque now to challenge anyone who sails across his bow.
He was fighting this battle with the mandarins when I interviewed him a year ago (and Maverick magazine took what might be the only press photo of him relaxing without his running legs on). After all this time, just having won this victory over the sport’s global ruling body is a major achievement in itself, for which Oscar deserves hearty congratulations.
I wonder if Oscar has a different set for when he goes out for a meal and a movie?
He does indeed. Running in cinemas and restaurants is generally frowned upon.
He can’t really walk on those running blades at all. When he walks up to you on his regular legs, though, you probably won’t notice he walks on prosthetics at all.