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Originally posted by RedmikeIf they are indeed longer than his real legs could possibly have been, I say
But that's the point.
What do we do if the athlete insists on keeping his extended prosthetic legs?
Do we prevent him competing?
we prevent him from participating, as it would otherwise be a form of
cheating. Unless they're abnormally long in which case he would "run" into
other problems such as keeping balance and the like. If he still wins then,
then he certainly deserves it.
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Originally posted by RedmikeBeing pedantic about it "we" would have very little input in the decision making process of an athletics body. Surely their biggest concern would be to their own constituency, the athletes who have trained for years to be at the pinnacle of their sport and may not take kindly to someone who seems to have a greater than average ability to run when compared to able limbed competitors.
But that's the point.
What do we do if the athlete insists on keeping his extended prosthetic legs?
Do we prevent him competing?
The article mentioned the mechanical efficiency of the limbs and the way in which they effect ambulation. If he seems to wind up towards the end of a race when other competitors are winding down, then how fair are the legs.
Having to overcome the difficulty of not having limbs should not then privilege someone to have a distinct advantage over other competitors.
When other limbs are filling with lactic acid and slowing down this guy just seems to keep going stronger.
Different but similar would be the claim of a woman born as a man who had undergone gender reassignment surgery and then tried to dismiss challenges to the fairness of them competing on the basis of exclusion and human rights. The fact that the individual would have benefited from years of male testosterone and would have developed a muscle mass that no amount of gender transformation would be able to mask, always seems to be an slight omission in their argument.
Originally posted by RedmikeIsn't it great that we live in a time when we can even have this debate? A guy with no legs runs really fast -- amazing. If sports is about entertainment in the end (what else?), I say let him run. I'd love to see a runner with 8 foot long legs. Imagine what that would do for the ratings of the paraolympics.
Interesting story here. Looks like the athletic authorities are trying to ban this athlete because his prosthetic legs give him an unfair advantage.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.1276730.0.0.php
Originally posted by stockenI suppose if the guy was a full grown adult when his legs were amputated, they could just ask him how tall he was and make up the difference from his length now, lol. 🙂
Then take the likely length of his legs as measured off people of the same
upper body length and use that.
[b]Addition: If the "likely" length is one within an interval, then you can't
say his legs are too long if it's within that interval, as you wouldn't know
then.[/b]
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Originally posted by AThousandYoungWow! ...."These springs were made for runnin,
Here's a picture:
http://tinyurl.com/yqgz8v
The guy has big springs for feet. I think that the other runners should be allowed to attach springs like that.
That is what they'll do,
One of these days these springs are gonna run all over you....."
I tell you if a picture told a thousand words, you can see exactly from this photograph, why this guy although a South African as a comparitive measure of his prowess, would have won the able bodied finals of the Scottish National Athletic Championships 20 times in the past 21 years.
I'm not suggesting for a minute that a double below the knee amputation would not be an almost insurmountable obstacle for any person to climb over, but seriously there are disadvantages and there are disadvantages
Originally posted by AThousandYoungIf someone stole the grip things off the bottom of the springs wouldn't he go splat on the tarmac?
Here's a picture:
http://tinyurl.com/yqgz8v
The guy has big springs for feet. I think that the other runners should be allowed to attach springs like that.
I'm going to hell, right?
I think the only fair way for these double amputees to compete against each other is not to allow them to attach artificial limbs at all - aLthough this might kill it as a spectater sport. Alternatively you could allow able bodied athletes to compete in the paralympics by attaching springs to their feet