Ruling that his high-tech prosthetic legs give him an unfair advantage, the world governing body for track and field said today that double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius cannot compete at the 2008 Olympics.Pistorius, a South African who uses prosthetics known as Cheetahs, expected the ruling and has already said he plans to appeal.
But any appeal might come too late. South Africa's track and field federation said that it will apply the ruling immediately and ban Pistorius from competing against able-bodied athletes. That means that even if he wins his appeal, it may be too late for him to qualify for the Olympics.
Pistorius isn't fast enough to medal at the Olympics, but he might be fast enough to make South Africa's team, if he were allowed. He ran the 400 meters in 46.90 seconds at the Golden League meet in Rome on July 13, competing in a sanctioned race against able-bodied runners.
A time of 46.90 seconds wouldn't have been good enough to advance beyond the preliminary heats at the 2004 Olympics, but it wouldn't have finished last in any of the preliminary heats, either.
Ultimately, the track and field governing body faced two questions: First, are there any advantages to having prosthetic legs? And if so, do those advantages make the use of prosthetics unfair to competitors without them? The people who run track and field believe the answer to both questions is yes.
