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Oscar Pistorius : .8 secs from qualifying for the normal Olympics

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Steve19

Steve19

Watching. Always watching.
Staff member
I'm getting really excited about this kid and his approach to life...

Oscar breaks 100 metres world record
Published 05/04/2007



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Oscar Pistorius​

South African sprint sensation Oscar Pistorius lit up the Nedbank Championships for the Physically Disabled when he shattered the world record in the 100 metres at the Germiston Stadium on Wednesday.


Pistorius also became the first double amputee sprinter to dip below the sub 11 seconds mark when he ran a time of 10.91 seconds.

?Oscar is ecstatic,? coach Ampie Louw explained. ?He has been very down in the last few weeks with all the controversy around his bid to compete with the able-bodied athletes, but now he has proved to them once again how good he is.?

What makes this gold-medal feat all the more astonishing is that Pistorius?s focus has been on the 400 metres and the 200 metres, with the 20-year-old not looking to compete regularly in the 100 metres.

(continues)
 
How good is this guy, by the way?

When he finished his world record time in the 400 meter, the next best time ever recorded for the distance by an amputee (one leg) would have been 46 meters behind him. The next best double amputee would have been 100 meters behind.

Some local running experts were guessing that he probably will qualify for the Olympics, although .8 seconds is a lot of time to cut between now and the end of the year.

He was interviewed on radio today and I found him to be one of the most modest and positive people I ever heard interviewed. Geez, the world need a lot more people like this.

Handicapped? Nonsense! I'm just gonna get out there and do it.
 
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tibor75;810787; said:
It'd be an absolute joke if he or anybody like him is allowed into the regular olympics.
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I agree with tibor... what kind of "advantage" is he possibly getting from his prosthetics? If they give him extra spring than what regular legs would then he has an advantage over the other runners. This is speaking from the strictest interpretation of fair play and gaining advantage rules. I don't see him being allowed to participate, case in point: Someone in a wheelchair cannot participate in a regular marathon because they have the advantage of wheels and being able to store some energy between cycles while moving forward (especially on downhills) whereas a fully able-bodied person cannot do that unless they totally stop during the race.

That said, 0.8 is a LOT of time to knock off of 100m, especially when you are talking the 9.x-10.x range.
 
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bkochmc;811033; said:
I agree with tibor... what kind of "advantage" is he possibly getting from his prosthetics? If they give him extra spring than what regular legs would then he has an advantage over the other runners. This is speaking from the strictest interpretation of fair play and gaining advantage rules. I don't see him being allowed to participate, case in point: Someone in a wheelchair cannot participate in a regular marathon because they have the advantage of wheels and being able to store some energy between cycles while moving forward (especially on downhills) whereas a fully able-bodied person cannot do that unless they totally stop during the race.

That said, 0.8 is a LOT of time to knock off of 100m, especially when you are talking the 9.x-10.x range.
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isnt the world record 9.76 or something anyways?. he has more than a full second to go to get near there. .8 seconds at that speed is a HUGE difference to make up but its a good story nonetheless.
 
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Great post, I agree.

tibor75;810787; said:
It'd be an absolute joke if he or anybody like him is allowed into the regular olympics.
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It makes me sad to agree with Tibor on something like this, but he's right. So are the other posts saying he won't make it. You don't cut .8 off the 100 meters by doing anything other than going through puberty, it's not a matter of "speed work" or anything like that. He has to cut more than .4 to match the women's world record, and unless those prosthetics are giving him a HUGE spring advantage I seriously doubt he'd ever be able to do even that.
All that being said, 10.91 is a fast 100 meter time- probably faster than 99.9% of the people who read this post will ever run or have ever run. For someone who's a double amputee to do it is amazing, and he should be very proud. But to think he can compete with the fastest men in the world is silly.
 
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Re: Olympic participation:

1. I would think it would be appropriate to have some sort of panel determine whether his prosthetics are merely compensatory or provide some sort of Wile E. Coyote-esque advantage. If deemed merely compensatory, he should be allowed to try to qualify.

2. He may not need to be that close to world-record pace to qualify. I don't know what the minimum standard is or how good S. Africa's other runners are. Regardless, he should have to meet whatever the standard for everyone else is.
 
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Jagdaddy;811266; said:
Re: Olympic participation:

1. I would think it would be appropriate to have some sort of panel determine whether his prosthetics are merely compensatory or provide some sort of Wile E. Coyote-esque advantage. If deemed merely compensatory, he should be allowed to try to qualify.

2. He may not need to be that close to world-record pace to qualify. I don't know what the minimum standard is or how good S. Africa's other runners are. Regardless, he should have to meet whatever the standard for everyone else is.
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Two working human legs is the standard for everyone else.
 
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