Oscar Pistorius gets his A

will they let Warner wear blades?

There's no chance in he'll that he'd have even broken 50 seconds if he had normal legs.

That's the truth.

Seen this?

http://edwardovadia.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/oscar-pistorius.pdf

Weyand pulls the 10 second number from out of thin air.

If you read thecommentary, you'll see that there is no derivation.

They throw around a lot of numbers but don't explain how they "calculate" it.

right now, he's cleared to run and thats all that matters. I believe he has a pretty clear advantage but that doesn't matter until he gets banned from competing with able bodied athletes.

From the SI Article referenced earlier in the thread:

"The researchers found that because the carbon fiber Cheetahs are about half the weight (approximately 6 ½ pounds) of an able-bodied sprinter's lower leg, Pistorius can swing his lower leg through the air between strides 15.7 percent more quickly (0.284 seconds at top speed) than the average of five former 100-meter world record holders who were studied. "

If the Cheetahs are less than 1/2 the weight of normal legs, how would OP's turnover/ground force pushoff be affected if the Cheetahs were increased in weight so that they are of the same weight of normal lower legs? Would that make the playing field more level as the additional weight would alter his mechanics and probably reduce his air time, therefore shorten the stride and forcing him to use more energy over the course of the race? Thoughts?

nightline wrote:

All of the earlier meet directors screwed him over with Lane 1.

He asked for lane one in those meets.

This story is similar to what Casey Martin, the golfer, went through.

Casey Martin had a physical condition that made it difficult for him to walk.

He could golf very well but he couldn't walk the course so he used a golf cart.

But the rules don't permit a golf cart on the pro tour.

He was initially banned but won a law suit to play.

He won one small event and his best major placing was 23rd at the US Open.

There was a lot of bickering about the advantage that this nearly crippled person had.

The bickering seemed to bring negative attention to the sport.

In the end, Martin never really had high success in the sport and there hasn't been a parade of walking impaired golfers using carts on the pro tour.

I think you may see the same thing here. Oscar running at Worlds but not making the final.

And no forthcoming wave of amputees beating the pro, able-bodied runners.

But negative attention to the sport if the whining gets too load.

What I don't understand is why doesn't Pistorius use a longer Cheetah. He could basically turn into an ostrich where the upper leg to lower leg ratio is much much smaller than the ratio for humans.

That's basically why I don't think he should be allowed to run at worlds (despite the fact that his story is incredibly inspiring). It just seems so easy to just increase the lever with no major penalty in weight.

Getting ready for the trials next year. No advantage here...

Either Weyand believes that 400m running is not "sprinting", or he has contradicted himself.

In the article on Pistorius, he attributes 400m speed to the speed of repositioning of the limbs:

"Even in comparison to those male sprinters with the most extreme adaptations for speed in recorded human history, Oscar Pistorius has limb repositioning times that are literally off the charts. Usain Bolt is considered somewhat freakish because he outruns his opponents by 2-4 percent. At top speed, Oscar Pistorius repositions his limbs 15 percent more rapidly than six of the most recent world record holders in the 100 meter dash, including Usain Bolt." (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117184539.htm)

, while in the article on sprinting speed, he states that top sprinting speeds are not attributable to the speed of repositioning of the limbs:

"We conclude that human runners reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground." (http://www.artofperformance.co.uk/AOP_Art_RunFast.htm)

Hey Weyand, you out there? How do you explain this apparent contradiction?

Not having actually read Weyand's papers, I can't comment on their scientific merit--but I think it best to ignore any of his results or conclusions as reported in "pop science" publications.

Also, I'll have to add a race at Lignano to my 2012 meet schedule, along with one in Rieti. Look for new age-group WR's.

Anybody who's anybody should of course run meets in those facilities, with those staff. Bolt and Whitlock could put records out of reach forever.

Oscar will be one of the biggest stories at next year's Olympics!!! His gonna get paid and his gonna get laid. I am just curious if all the people that are "hating" on his world qualification are the same people who cry foul when they hear of doping in sport....is he cheating by wearing the blades?

You misssed the point by a mile.

Using the quote that you already used here..."We conclude that human runners reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground."

So they conclude the best sprinters can apply greater support forces. COmbine this with the fact that... "Oscar Pistorius repositions his limbs 15 percent more rapidly than six of the most recent world record holders in the 100 meter dash, including Usain Bolt."

Oscar can spend more time generating those forces that are key to being a elite sprinter due to the fact he can re position faster than anybody else. Red the article again before you speak.

With due respect, I think it may be you who has missed the point.

If you would read the 2 linked articles, one of them states that most decently in-shape people have the same repositioning speed as Donovan Bailey--but obviously cannot run as fast.

Therefore, according to Weyand, limb repositioning speed does not necessarily produce greater applied support forces to the ground.

If that is in fact the case, why care about the speed at which Pistorius is able to reposition his limbs?

There seems a glaring inconsistency here.

I'm willing to believe that it can be resolved, but I don't think that the logic in your post provides that resolution.

No, you actually are missing the point.

It is saying that human runners don't increase speed by increasing the speed that they re-position their limbs. However, OP can re-position his limbs faster, which most humans cannot do.

The thing you quoted is saying that OP is not a human runner. (Not really saying that, but it's closer to that than the geezer's interpretation.)

The original quote should have said something like "Non-amputee human runners..."

I now see your logic.

If I can re-phrase: Because the same maximum limb repositioning speed is common to all normal runners, yet they run at different speeds, it is the difference in support forces applied to the ground that determine speed among those normal runners--but OP is not among those normal runners, and his increased limb repositioning speed over what he could achieve if he were a normal runner contributes to increasing his personal running speed over that which he could achieve with legs.

Thanks, it makes sense--if, like you said, OP is effectively characterized as an amputee human runner, in a class totally different than non-amputee human runners.

I read the recent comments by Roger Black in a BBC article and I think he has it right. Essentially, while he doesn't threaten the top guys he's fine, he's a plucky trier and everybody loves him, but when he does start to threaten them he'll be considered to have an advantage. That's his dilemma. And because there's no consistent assessment of him it tells you he's in the wrong race category. I agree with others he should be invited to private meets; he's popular, hard-working, an inspirational guy doing a hard event, but he isn't running the same race as his competitors.

I don't believe Pistorius should be able to run, and I don't believe he should just because he has an advantage. I wrote a whole lot about it more eloquently here:

http://tinyurl.com/4yojzz5

A track race is supposed to be a race amongst athletes and athletes alone. Anytime you throw in technology and equipment into the mix you are ruining the purity of the competition. The swimsuits in Beijing were just as bad if one athlete had an advantage because of his suit.