Meet Oscar Pistorius. A 20 year old man that likes to run. A 20 year old man that likes to run fast. But there is one problem. Oscar Pistorius is a double leg amputee. That means that both of his legs were amputated below the knee when he was a baby. You may be wondering how he can walk then, let alone run and have world records in the 100m, 400m, and 1000m race. The answer is, cheetahs’. Cheetahs’ are prosthetic legs, in a sense. They are like running legs, made out of carbon fibre, and very light. They are custom made to be fit for running the track fast. Pistorius has won gold medals in the ParaOlympics, the Olympics for people with disabilities, but now he is going for the big one. Oscar Pistorius is trying out for the real Olympics.
Now most of you are probably thinking, ‘So? A dude is going to run for the Olympics. Happens all the time, no big deal.’ The big deal is that the Olympic judges won’t let him compete. Crazy, eh? Well, listen up, because there are two sides to the story. The Olympic judges are saying that the Cheetah’s give him and advantage over the normal Olympic players because they are very flexible, and have springs, unlike a regular human leg. The judges say that they give him a longer stride, and since it has springs, then he will not get any shock in his legs. This allows him to sprint longer distances.
On the other hand, Oscar Pistorius and his supporters are arguing that the Cheetah’s do not give you that kind of advantage. He feels that since his legs were cut off, he does not have the kind of control over his Cheetah’s that any other human would have with biological legs. He feels that he is the ‘winning ingredient’ in the race, not his prosthetic legs.
“I train harder than any of the other guys do. I put in more hours. I eat better. I sleep better. I rest better and, overall, I am more diligent.” Oscar says in an interview with the BBC. “There has never been a disabled athlete competing in the Olympics. There’s a fear of change.”
So how do you look at this controversy? Would you want Oscar Pistorius to compete in the Olympics, or would you keep him from competing? Remember, leave lots of comments to share your opinion!
Signed,
TheEggMan and WhoWhatWhereWhenWhy
image borrowed from http://www.thesoleofafricablog.org
The Blurb Nation 
I think that they should let him in, just because he has fake legs, I’d think that this would be a disadvantage not a helpful thing the olympic judges are being to hard on Oscar (give him a break, hes got no legs…)
I think he has an advantage because his legs won’t tire out as fast, and get the muscule pain we get. Also sometimes people with disabilaties don’t want special treatment Fegus.
I think that the Cheetas do give him an unfair advantage. I think an interesting test that might confirm this is to take two identical twins, and from birth, make one a double leg amputee, and one regular. Give the double leg amputee Cheetahs, and put them on the exact same diet, exercise regimee, and sleep routine. Then let them have a race. If the double leg amputee wins by much, then ban Cheetahs from the Olympics. If they tie, or the non-double leg amputee wins, allow Oscar Pistorius, and other disabled people compete in the Olympics. This would ensure fairness, so the better man will win, not the one with better equitment.
I think however, until sufficient tests are done to determine whether Cheetahs give Oscar an unfair advantage, he should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
I also think Cheetahs are improperly named. The key to a Cheetah’s speed is their back, which is very flexible, and its powerful back muscles to arch their back, giving them a longer and more powerful stride. I think the running fake legs would be more aptly named “Kangaroos”, for their springlike ability, which is similar to a kangaroo’s ankles, and strong calf muscles (properly called Gastrocnemeis’), which help them to jump.
Signed,
The Warlord
Maybe scientists can make a different type of prosthetic legs that if a disable person would use it, they would have to the the same amount of energy as a normal athlete. Then it would solve the problem.
What in the world is wrong with extention legs that are longer than regular legs and have built in springs for stability and extra fast speed that makes you go zing and alot faster than people not disabled? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT WARLORD???(What you can see by this text you can tell im beindg sarcatic, warlord is right).
I really beleive that they should accept him into the olympics because for goodness sakes – he has no legs!!! The cheetahs won’t be an advantage I just think this enables him to run. What else is he supposed to run on?? – Wooden sticks!?! Seriously! And if the Olympic people turn him down some people will be sooooooooo mad because they’ll think that there being rejective to a disabled person – which won’t go don very well.
What do you call that bulk up pills? Don’t they give you an advantage? I’m sure many of the Olympic athletes take them. Isn’t that cheating?
Shakesphere
I think that it is unfair to the other Olympic athletes, because they will tire out more easily than people with Cheetas. On the other hand, Oscar has probably never done something this big before, and it obviously means a lot to him. Also, it would probably go down in history if a man with fake legs won the Olympics.
Shakesphere,
I agree with you. I have seen him run and he wobbles a tiny bit when he runs because of not a lot of control. He should have a chance to run.
Overall Eggman and WhoWhatWhenWhereWhy, I think you did a good job.
Ricky
P.S your thinking of steriods.
Well, you guys have to remember that there is more than one side to the story. And as warlord said, “Take two babies from birth, make one a double leg amputee,” and all the stuff after that, that would definetly be human cruelty. I mean, forcing someone to live without legs for the rest of their life just because they were the subjects of a test? My own opinion is to not let Oscar run in the olympics, because nobody knows for sure if they cheetah’s give him an advantage, and until they figure out some scientific way, with actual hard proof to back it up, the judges will decide to not let him compete. And even though you should be stating your opinions, in the end, nobody’s opinion matters except the Olympic Judges.
The cheetas are cheating! They are too springy and he won’t feel the burn of his muscles. This would allow him to go longer and farther. They may be able to test Oscar by giving him other prothetic legs, more regular shape, less spring. He would need time to practice with them, and then we could find out.
wow. i think its unfair, really, them lot letting Oscar compete… believe me, i’ve seen those discovery health shows in which people have to learn how to walk in those legs and gradually come back to normal again? sure, he’s had them since birth [well ever since he was a baby] but it must’ve been HARDER for him to learn to walk, with out normal legs and what not. I think people with out the Cheetahs kind of take their legs for granted.. i mean, if Oscar, with his disabilities, most likely will win because he practices more and puts is all into it, its the equivalent of a ‘normal legged guy’ who as the advantage of having legs…. i mean, it’s not like the cheetahs are perfected to work like our legs, being man made and all, which might be the problem, because they may have super-humanized them…. but then again, he’s most likely never competed with normal legged people.So everybody should have a chance of 50/50 winning, right??
But on the other hand, his cheetah legs will most likely go on through the entire race, no sweat, while other people’s human legs can only do so much…
but do you think the different advantages of cheetah and normal legs cancel eachother out? why?
The Belgian waffle said: “So everybody should have a chance of 50/50 winning, right?” I think that even if he never raced that still he would win because he doesn’t have to worry because his “legs” can’t feel tired, aching, or sore, so then he would win.
Do you think that it’s fair to not let him compete? I think that there should be a race for people like Oscar that have metal legs.
-The Joker
The thing is, he still has thighs and lungs. Without empirical evidence, it’s hard to say what the advantages / disadvantages are, but to say that his muscles won’t get tired because he doesn’t have a full set of legs seems a bit illogical.