Oscar Pistorius Put to the Test

[JoseSalasblanca]

if he had an advantage, why havent other handicapped runners achieved his results?

[sandmandj]

He is amazing. I personally think it does give him a bit of an advantage. He has more contact time with the floor, therefore more forward propulsion due to the flexibility of the blades. Contact time in sprinting is really important. I don't think it should stop him from running though as it does take him a hell of a long time to reach full speed. I just feel privileged to live in a time when someone running with prosthetic limbs can be considered to have an ADVANTAGE! Amazing, good luck Oscar.

[bajinj0]

Why he is the only double amputee in the world to run 45 flat?

Maybe he has an advantage,that's true,on the other "disables",but do you think he can run normally in the first 200m?I think not,if he had legs he would reach the wanted speed sooner.

So he has an advantage in the last 150m but a disadvantage in the first 200m,i think that's quite a fair race.

[BrendanRoganArts]

Man, I laugh at all you who type "thumbs up if 'so and so' brought you here." You're all just a bunch of attention-whores.

[haladacara]

@BrendanRoganArts If by some weird chance you're unaware, "Sarif Industries" and other such references are part of a viral marketing push by Eidos Games for their upcoming sequel to Deus Ex. A meta-game website kicks people to a number of semi-current bionics-related articles and videos.

And if you are aware, I kinda agree, thumb-trolling is silly.

[BrendanRoganArts]

The man is running without legs, he has an unfair advantage!!! .... umm, wait... what???

[BrandNewSongz]

David Sarif brought me here :)

[evilstephen902]

Poor little tink tink.

[Wooraah]

Welcome to the Human Revolution!

[seandillon5150]

thumbs up if Sarif Industries brought you here

[DRmetalgearay]

@seandillon5150 lol its a new age man people with artificial legs are faster than people with natural legs. next michel phelps will have fins instead of arms lol

[freakhyena]

the cyborgs are coming

[pryese7]

This is pretty funny to me, a test that is only designed to weigh his advantages is a poorly designed test. You must also weigh his disadvantages too and running in a straight line on a treadmill in not the same as running out of starting blocks and negotiating curves with his "blades".

[Ridiciliculous]

@pryese7 They're testing his MVO2 and how his prosthetic limbs affect... Fuck, why bother posting an intelligent response? You didn't even read the bloody description.

[pryese7]

@Ridiciliculous hey 3 things first the comment is 2 years old

Second youre the one who's being stupid because unlike you I observed the WHOLE test that is my opinion of the whole test its biased and until you go through the whole test shut up.

Third the comment is 2 YEARS OLD!

[pryese7]

@Ridiciliculous the test would have been designed well if it replicated what would actually occur in a 200 meter race not a marathon. "Oscar Pistorius Put to the Test" I said the test is poor can you even read.

[Ridiciliculous]

@pryese7 They're determining MVO2, not his performance in the 200-meter dash, and how the legs translate energy through his body and thus affect the mechanics of his body, including his metabolism and performance when compared to a different prosthetic.

[hacke73]

To all of you who thinks he has an advantage why dont you go and cut your legs off? You think your physique will improve? dont think so? You will probaly get stuck in all wheelchair. I take years to lern how to walk with cruches and even longer to learn how to walk without them. Then you mayby can start thinking to learn how to run for a short distance and it wont be fast...

[RAJTeunis]

@hacke73 What you just described is what would happen to an amputee today. But what about tomorrow? These tech will continue to improve and will soon be desirable, if not unfair.

[hacke73]

mayby it gives him a small andvantage. But hi also have lots of disadvantages like balance, the start and the pressure in his lower back must be brutal also in his hips. Im an double below the knee amputee and i can hardly jog for ren meters. It´s just bs that he has an andvantage over ablebodied sprinters.

[recurvebows]

heres what rhcp thinks: power of equality is not yet one it ought to be... if this was deemed unfair advantage, how about ultra light running shoes? and streamline running dresses? next time somebody starts racing bare footed w/o clothes, all else should be banned? guess so.

[iatemyorangecrayon]

Not to mention that the possible minute advantage he may have from the "springiness" is far outweighed by his reduced starting block power AND his reduced ability to negotiate corners. If you watch some of his warm-ups, you can see him coming down on corners and getting tangled up in the blades. If he makes the olympic time cuts, why not let him race... it's not like he's beating Usain Bolt's times, he just wants to run. On the flip side, the haters could cut their legs off and try to run fast.

[UWOkinesiology]

Cut Loose Oscar.

Godspeed!

[UWOkinesiology]

I may lean the way of the original IAAF decision if:

1) He were closer to the performance level of the elite 400m sprinter

2) He were to be able to better demonstrate energy conservation by competing at an even higher level at 800m

or

3) More double amputees using similar technology and equipment were as close to world class as he is.

But we don't see any of these things to indicate anything more than the possibility that he is simply a very gifted athlete with an ability to overcome.

[UWOkinesiology]

Personally, I feel the total energy savings from the reduced weight of the lower leg during recovery phase is something that needs to be more heavily considered when deciding wether this type of assisted running is in fact advantageous in terms of total energy consumption during sprinting, especially in reference to an event with the energy demands of the 400m race.

[UWOkinesiology]

Let's also remember nicool that the human ankle/foot lever returns as much energy as 340% in normal running motion studies and as much as 700% in jump studies, compared to the maximum possible 100% energy return of an inactive carbon fiber blade. The loss of possible energy return may in fact outweigh the energy conservation benefits associated with 'voluntary' muscular contraction.

[TortoiseKweek]

Right....So if that's the case, let us all "disable" Olympic athletes, because they could do better if they are disabled!! RIGHT!! Let's not forget that this man has trained JUST as hard as anyone, and YOU want to take that away from him?!

Please PLEASE show me where he has BROKEN any able bodied record!

Where Has he become a New world record holder in any "abled" body event??

[Nicool333]

I believe that his prosthetics give him a biomechanical advantage. I realize that this is not the "PC" view, but if you watch this video closely, you can see that he gets a very substantial rebound from his prosthetics. There is no muscular activity or physiological energy loss to create this rebound as would be required by a human leg. Accordingly, Oscar uses less energy per stride than legged runners and this energy savings gives him an unfair advantage against "able-bodied" runners.

[kleengizr]

the mother fucker has no god damn legs, i don't care what kind of physiological or biochemical evidence tests show, there is no advantage is having fake legs.

[Nicool333]

Classy...

Biochemical? Maybe you missed my point kiddo so let me put it more simply. You know that springiness that you get from your feet when you jump? Well that uses energy in your body. Oscar gets that same springiness WITHOUT using energy. Its a pretty important springiness when you're running..as you can see in the video. Look more closely kiddo.

[kleengizr]

Correct my type o, great editing skills... kiddo. I don't care what anyone has to say, I don't see any advantage of have prosthetic legs over natural. People just wanna hate because hes fast, it's individuals like you who try and bring the unfortunate down. You should be happy that someone in that statue has overcome such an obstacle. How would you feel if you had such an amputation, and while growing up being excluded and pretty much segregated from everyone else. Continued.....

[kleengizr]

Then finally having the opportunity to do something you always wanted to do, run... Eventually become so good at it, people start to hate on you. I say more power to him and less to the voices who have the power to bring him down. Next time you wanna judge whether or not hes got the advantage, take a look at your legs and remember you still have yours. Asshole. I'm sure you wouldn't be saying all this crap if you had a child in the exact situation. Think about it.

[Nicool333]

You're missing the point here kiddo. I am not saying anything to "bring him down" or "hating on him". What I'm saying has nothing to do with all that "how you feel" trash you're trying to accuse me with. In fact, I respect Oscar and happy for him that he has come so far. My statement is simple: his prosthetic gives him a biomechanical advantage. It has nothing to do with segregation, "how would you feel if it was your kid...", or any other equality bullshit you're trying to leverage.

[nodrugsforme]

@kleengizr Now he's run 45.07 - an Olympic qualifying time. I agree with @Nicool333. He has an advantage. When abled bodied athletes below the knee propulsion is fatigued to a extremely low output over the 2nd half of the race, Oscar's blades still propel him as much as in the first 50m.

Noones saying he can't run - they have a whole other olympics for him - Paralympics.

Wheelchair athletes are in the same position - do you think they should compete in Olympics against able bodied runners?

[nodrugsforme]

@kleengizr Wheelchair athletes train just as hard as Oscar. Just like Oscar they don't have legs. Should they have the right to compete in the Olympics too? So what if they are in wheelchairs? Don't their arms work just as hard as the other athletes legs?! You try wheeling yourself for a marathon and see how easy it is!!

If Oscar can run at Olympics using his prosthetics devices, so should they in their chairs! RIGHT?!

*wheelchair marathon times smash the current world record by almost an hour

[bojanlacic]

what does this prove?

[lc400matt]

that his legs dont give him an "unfair" advantage to those who do have legs in order to compete in the able bodied races

[Nicool333]

I believe that his legs DO give him an unfair advantage.