So, you think someone has it rough when they lose both their legs from the knee down? Well, in the eyes of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee, was found to have a leg up on his competition.
Oscar is a sprinter that has been denied a shot at running in the Olympics because he is too fast. His carbon-fiber prosthetic feet were found to give too much of an advantage to the runner.
The IAAF report states that the “mechanical advantage of the blade in relation to the healthy ankle joint of an able bodied athlete is higher than 30-percent.” Also, a secondary advantage of the carbon-fiber prosthetic is that Pistorius uses twenty-five percent less energy than average runners due to the artificial limbs which would contribute to an ability to keep his speed higher for longer.
It makes for an interesting issue as we go forward and makes me wonder if modified humans almost need their own version of the Olympics, one that would allow us to see how far humans can be pushed through technology.
Found via Engadget.
Today’s Bionic Life
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I don’t know whether the author of this article is being sarcastic when he suggests that there ought to be an Olympics for modified humans, but he must know about the Paralympics. The issue here is that he wanted to compete with able-bodied athletes, rather than being banned altogether. He’s still welcome to compete in the Paralympics where he has won a number of gold medals. Given the evidence, I’d say it’s a fair decision.
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