Oscar Pistorius is South African sprint track runner. His nick name is "blade runner" and he is the fastest man with no legs. Pistorius has raced against able-bodied athletes on the international level and beat them. The IAAF ruled that Pistorius had an unfair advantage by using prosthetic legs and could not compete in sanctioned events. This was later over-turned based that the IAAF didn't have sufficient proof. Oscar did not qualify for the Olympics in 2008 but won 3 gold medals in the Paralympics.
Oscar is the athlete with a disability that I have heard of most over the last five years. There were many stories on ESPN about him not being eligible for the Olympics. I think he does have a slight edge though. He doesn't have lower legs which means no fatigue and his blade legs are more resilient and absorb a lot of pressure.
When I was in high school I wrestled a kid with one leg two or three times. He had a really big upper body and his arms were larger than anyone else in our weight class. When we wrestled he crawled on his knee and hands. He was actually pretty quick and with the strength he had made him a decent wrestler. I had to adapt to wrestle him and learn how to beat him the way he wrestled.
Hi Derek,
ReplyDeleteInteresting story and nice to read a personal experience with a disabled athlete!
What really fascinates me is the enormous dedication and mentality to succeed by many disabled athletes. I had once a guest lecture from a disabled athlete. His name is Kenny van Weeghel and he is one of the best wheelchair athlete in the world. He told his personal story and I was surprised how few support he received from the national Athletics Association. It was an extremely hard way to achieve success, but because his dedication and winners mentality, he is one of the best in the world.
Derek,
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your blog, it caused me to stop and consider what I would have chosen regarding participation in sports if I had a disability to overcome. Competitive sports are hard enough for people with normal physical ability! Oscar Pistorius and others like him must possess a really strong drive to reach tough goals to compete despite having a physical disability. It is hard to imagine that Oscar was thought to have an unfair advantage by using prosthetic legs. The people providing that ruling must not have personal experience with an artificial limb. I have to believe it is very difficult to compensate and adjust to walking let alone being a sprint track runner on legs that are manually attached to your body. Bottom line I truly admire his mental toughness ability to push himself physically instead of using his disability as an excuse to not push himself to meet challenging goals.
Stephen