Double-amputee eligible to qualify for 2008 olympics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius

Basically this guy from south africa is really really fast and he is a double amputee running on these carbon fiber spring blades. Originally the ruling was that they gave him an unfair advantage over able bodied runners but the ruling was recently overturned in an arbitration court. He now is able to qualify for the olympic team and has a good chance of it.

I for one think this sets a dangerous precedent. He is an inspirational story and I know track and field has already been marred by steroid and HGH use but I think having athletes with artificial enhancements would ruin the purity of the sport even more.

What do you guys think?

Wow, this, I thinkk sets a dangerous precident, granted, it is a life long dream to be able to compete in the olympic games, however, once they come up with "bionic" limbs, is that fair? This is a touchy subject to say the least. I am interested in the rest of the community's ideas before I really pass judgement

I would like to compete in a marathon using a car, as I have lost the use of one of my feet.

So what is the point of the paralympics again?

Yea great story but their going to have to set a limit on how far the use of artificial limbs can go because techonolgy will only continue to move forward and eventually it will just be a competetion of super cyborgs lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esco

Yea great story but their going to have to set a limit on how far the use of artificial limbs can go because techonolgy will only continue to move forward and eventually it will just be a competetion of super cyborgs lol

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when your 5th teacher yells at you because you only have enough candy for yourself and not for the rest of the class, same holds true for this guy. yeah, he battled adversity and is a great athlete, but if you let one guy in with blades for legs, its hard not to let them all in, and what if it is found to have given an advantage?