Political Correctness gone mad...

-|ScottFree|- · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:05

Oscar Pistorius..

Oscar Pistorius was born without fibulae in both legs "due to a congenital condition". He runs using runs using what are known as Cheetah springs.

He is appealing to the IAAF to enable him to compete in the Olympic games along side able bodied athletes.

His time in the 100m is 10.91 seconds.

Half a second faster would put him among the elite "white" 100m runners in the world (I think Im right in saying that no white man has ever run 100m under 10 seconds, although I will stand corrected if proved otherwise)

The IAAF are allowing him to run races carrying out tests to see if him competing against others in the Olympics is fair, Im pretty sure that self evident.

Why don't they just say to the fella, look mate, we are sorry but you are wearing springs on your feet. No you cant compete, rather than make the guy jump through hoops and then let him down.

If he does compete, it will open up a can of worms for the Olympics. Will we see people in jet propelled wheel chairs with brembo brakes flying down the lanes, only for the anchors to dropped sending the man flying 8 ft across the sandpit.... a new world record is broken.

All joking aside, his achievments would not be taken seriously even if he won, its sad, but its life.

Biohazard · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:07

Isn't that for the special olympics?

Zefan · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:07

Send him back :mad:

Mr_White · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:09

Who cares, as long as he doesn't start stomping all over the able bodied competition.

ScarySquirrel · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:10

My first thought was to search for him on YouTube and I found this hilarious video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnoGaLAMq48

Watch the guy in red cross the line, lol

Biohazard · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:10

Zefan said:
Send him back

He'll come bouncing back? :confused:

Azagoth · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:13

Biohazard said:
He'll come bouncing back?

Like a rubber ball.....

DavidMarq · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:18

Mr. Spiggott?

To misquote Peter Cook & Dudley Moore.

"He is deficient in the lower leg department to the tune of two."

Maybe he should apply for a job as Tarzan.

Delboy · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:18

What are his legs called....cheaters? Go figure.

yhack · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:22

Might as well wear powerisers

6thElement · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:29

Would certainly make the long, high and triple jumps interesting...

scorza · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:37

Very strange case. Will society end up like in Aeon Flux whereby people disfigure themselves to become better human beings? Amputating feet and replacing them with hands for example to become better at mountain climbing...

Nix · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:44

Azagoth said:
Like a rubber ball.....

Back to yooooou!

SpeedFreak · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:51

Harldy politcal correctness gone mad is it? I think it is a fairly debatable decision , but would probably have a 50/50 split in public opinion.

Burnsy2023 · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:55

-|ScottFree|- said:
All joking aside, his achievments would not be taken seriously even if he won, its sad, but its life.

I don't see why, his time is fast, the springs could slow him down by a few tenths of a second for all we know.

There is a lot of PCness in the world, but I wouldn't class this as it gone mad.

Burnsy

yak.h'cir · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:01

He should be allowed to try out for competing if it can be proved that the fake legs do not give an advantage over normal legs. i.e. a pair could be designed to best mimic normal legs as opposed to be designed for providing the best possible speed.

Psyk · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:02

I don't think he should compete with normal bodied people. While it's a great achievement for him personally and the engineering that went into his fake legs that he would be able to compete with able bodied people, ultimately it's unfair on the other runners. Maybe at the moment they are about on par but it's feasible that in a few years artificial legs may actually give him an advantage over people without them.

Biohazard · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:02

His face is creepy / scarey anyway! :eek:

Burnsy2023 · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:06

Psyk said:
Maybe at the moment they are about on par but it's feasible that in a few years artificial legs may actually give him an advantage over people without them.

How do you know that he's not been running for years to get the 10.91 time he achieved? Why do we immediatly think this is an unfair advantage?

Burnsy

barf0r · 9 Jul 2007 at 19:27

burnsy2023 said:
How do you know that he's not been running for years to get the 10.91 time he achieved? Why do we immediatly think this is an unfair advantage?

Burnsy

You missed his point. He isn't commenting on whether or not it is fair now, but saying that technological advances in the future will likely give unfair advantages.