His personal best 400-meter time is still 7/10 of a second away from the Olympic qualifying time, but he has until July 20 to achieve it.
But it does beg the question of whether or not someday an athlete who compensates for a disability by means of newly-engineered mechanical bionics will have a real and unfair advantage over non-disabled competitors.
'Question authority. Think for yourself. Filter out the spin. Engage elected officials critically. Make them defend what they're doing in your name. Derive the truth. Speak truth to power.'
Posts: 3116 | Location: Boston | Registered: April 16, 2005
It's an interesting topic. I believe that if the mechanical aids just 'compensate' for his disability then there isn't a problem. If however the aids offer him an advantage greater then him having regular legs then I don't think he should be eligible, though the fact that he has been given the green-light to participate in qualification gives me the impression that this is not the case.
Still an amazing achievement from the guy,I wish him the best in qualifying. ________________________________________________
"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."
I think it's awesome that a guy with this handicap managed to get this far.
However, I think that it can be really hard to estimate weather his mechanical aids gives him an advantage or not. It may give him some advantages in some way and some disavantages in some others but where do you draw the line ?
i think that allowing a participant that does uses mechanical aid to compensate for his disabilities open a really big hole in the rules and some people will surely try to take advantage of it.
However, it's a big accomplishment for him and it gives a lot of hope and pride to all the people that are in a similar situation.
Gotta respect this guy !
Cheers, Fred
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Posts: 60 | Location: Quebec city, Canada | Registered: April 15, 2008
I think they need to make decisions on a case by case basis and utilize all available information available at the time to make a quality decision. I believe they made the correct decision here, but what if a person with a mechanical arm wanted to participate in the shot put using that arm? I'm pulling for Oscar to make the team and go for gold. GO Oscar!
"Pick it, clip it, light it, smoke it and enjoy it"
Posts: 264 | Location: Central Florida | Registered: March 09, 2007
