The Influence of Technology

For awhile now Olympic sports has had to deal with technology in the form of drugs. Today, there is a new threat, an amputee. Oscar Pistorius of South Africa was born without a fibula bone in his legs resulting in both legs being amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. Today, at age twenty, he is setting the track on fire with his specially made prosthetics. After easily winning the Paralympics World Cup 100 and 200-meter dashes, Oscar now dreams of running in the Olympics. Certainly, he has the speed to qualify, getting second in the 400 meters in the South African National Championships. There's only one problem, the I.A.A.F., running's governing body won't allow him to compete.

“With all due respect, we cannot accept something that provides advantages,” said Elio Locatelli of Italy, the director of development for the I.A.A.F., urging Pistorius to concentrate on the Paralympics that will follow the Olympics in Beijing. “It affects the purity of sport. Next will be another device where people can fly with something on their back.”

Is this really fair? Should the Olympics exclude runners not only when they are slower but even when they are faster? The Olympics, like any other event, is affected by technology. Either they accept technology as a natural human progression or they become irrelevant. Technology, where it be prosthetics or performance enhancing drugs, is a part of sports and will always be.

Comments

[Dave Allen]

Perhaps the Olympics or the I.A.A.F. simply fear that technology that outwardly shows performance enhancements, those prothetic legs, would cause the public to further scrutinize those invisible (to a point) performance enhancing drugs. The public is sniffing out non-authenticity in many areas and sports is one area, especially the Tour De France, where they have voted with their feet along with the sponsors. Not to say that Pistorious is non-authentic, quite the opposite, he should be championed as someone who has overcome a dibilitating adversity and climbed to the top of his game. Pistorious is a trusted source, what else could he be? Therefore he encompasses authenticity which is exactly what the spporting world needs. He will be publicly embraced, no doubt about it.

Dave Allen, Pampelmoose.com

[Jerry Freeman]

We've already crossed the line. Eye glasses and laser eye enhancements have been allowed for a long time. The I.A.A.F really doesn't have a leg to stand on.