When does a cripple's crutch make him more competitive than an able bodied athlete? When a double-amputee uses the trademarked Cheetah Flex Foot. Yesterday South African Oscar Pistorius was granted the right to try out for the Olympic games. The liberal Court Of Arbitration For Sport created in 1984 overturned the 1912 founded International Association Of Athletic Federations' determination that the Flex Foot was indeed a performance enhancer that was unfair to normal competitors.
Sounds familar. And now unfair affirmative action has made a beachead in the Olympic Games in the form of hybrid technology. Cheetah gives Oscar, who is already 30 pounds lighter because of the missing limbs below the knee, the ability to run down the track on ultra- light carbon fiber blades that effectively mimic pogo-like springs attached to his thighs. There is less wind resistance with the blades, there are never the problems of sore feet or sore lower leg muscles. Also with less body mass, the vital dynamic of oxygen distribution is concentrated in a smaller muscular areas.
Enough already. With the human population approaching 7 billion on the planet we should be celebrating excellence and not degrading the heretofore ultimate physical competitions of the Olympic games. Handicapped people have their own Paralympian games. Oscar should stay where he belongs.
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