Amputee Sprinter To Compete For Spot On S. Africa Olympic Team
By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius will be allowed to compete for a spot on the South African Olympic team after a sport regulatory body ruled today that his carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs do not give him an advantage over other runners.
The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport in a decision released this morning overturned an earlier ruling against Pistorius made in January by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The IAAF had concluded after studying the issue that Pistorius’s blade-like “Cheetah” running prosthetics amounted to a “technical device” that gave him a “demonstrable mechanical advantage” because they worked more efficiently than the human ankle and allowed the user to consume less energy than an able-bodied athlete running at the same speed.
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