Oscar gets a shot at Olympic dream
Well, whaddya know. It seems the Gods, or at least the IAAF, are smiling upon South African double-amputee Oscar Pistorius, overturning his ban on competing in the Beijing Olympics. So this means that Oscar, complete with carbon fibre blades for feet, has the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics – note, not the Paras – in Beijing this year. Is this a good thing, do you think? Or is it opening up a potentially massive can of worms? Your thoughts, please…
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Oscar Pistorius?,inclusion or exclusion?,right or wrong?,is there a correct answer to this issue.Personally i think the decision makers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.Should it be that "anyone" ( meaning disabled,and not using performance enhancing equipment..( thats another issue all together?),who reaches Olympic qualifying times/distances,can compete at the Olympic Games.I am sure that as technology improves,we could even see in the future ( "disabled athletes") running faster than their able bodied counterparts??.As for Pistorius..If the Cheetah blades are "legal"( definition of ?) and if he can reach the qualifying times for the Olympics,then should he be allowed to compete??.At the same time what do the other Paralympian Athletes think?.The Paralympics and Olympics are equal,winning a Gold in the Paralympics is exactly the same as the Gold in the Olympics.I take nothing away from Oscar Pistorius,he has shown what can be done with prosthetics,but this is new territory,and i think that the issue will not be solved overnight,or pre Beijing.There needs to be set guidelines for future events.I can see both sides of the debate,yes and no.This part was written before the descision, on Disaboom blog.Am very interested in athletes feedback