How can we quantify disability in sport?
Friday, January 18, 2008 | 11:47 AM ET
When does political correctness go too far and how can we quantify disability? Those are questions to consider when reading about South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius.
He is a double-amputee runner who wants to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Olympic Games. Pistorius uses prosthetic limbs when he races because his own legs were amputated above the ankle when he was an infant.
The prosthetics are a high-tech curved piece of carbon fibre known as the Cheetah. Using the limbs, Pistorius has become the world’s best Paralympic sprinter. He holds the world records in the 100-, 200-, and 400-metres for his category, and he only began running four years ago. It’s a great accomplishment.
He has also been competing against able-bodied athletes in some competitions, and his results have been impressive.
But now that he wants to try for the Olympics, the international governing body for track and field, the IAAF, says he can’t.
The argument is that his prosthetic limbs give him an unfair advantage. According to recent research, the limbs give him a 30-percent mechanical advantage. Pristorius doesn’t believe the research is accurate and he’s appealing the ruling.
It is a dilemma. On one hand, nobody wants to deny another person an opportunity in life. On the other, when does a mechanical device such as a prosthesis become a performance enhancer?
These blades are designed specifically for racing. They are not the limbs Oscar Pistorius wears in his day-to-day life. They are designed to give him feedback. You could argue there is a spring-like effect.
But how do you balance that with the fact Pistorius doesn’t have the other lower leg tissues of somebody with two full legs? He doesn’t have feet with muscles and tendons.
How do you quantify the difference? I don’t think you can.
There are other athletes with a disability who have expressed the desire to compete against able-bodied athletes. I can think of a couple off the top of my head:
Canadian cross-country skier Brian McKeever, who is visually impaired, is already skiing in some able-bodied races. In Paralympic events, he is allowed to race with a sighted guide to help keep him on track. In the able-bodied races, he’s on his own, with his limited and deteriorating vision. As far as I know, he’s not arguing that he should be allowed to race with his guide. He’s racing against the able-bodied skiers straight up and last year he came 24th at the world championships. He’s trying to become the first athlete with a disability to compete at both the Paralympic and Olympic Winter Games in 2010. I’ll be cheering him all the way.
Wheelchair racer Jeff Adams is another athlete who has argued in favour of integrated sport. In his case, he wants wheelchair racing to be a track event of its own, so anybody can climb into a wheelchair, no matter his or her physical limitations, and race against anybody else. It is a level playing field. The only thing that matters is who can go faster.
But with the Pistorius case, I don’t think you can say it’s level. How can you compare a flesh and bone shin, ankle and foot with a scientifically designed carbon-fibre limb?
There will be those who argue keeping Pistorius out is discriminatory and violates his human rights. But the fact is someone who races with prostheses is different from someone who races on flesh and bone.
Racing as fast as he does is amazing, but trying to compare it to an able-bodied effort proves nothing.
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Robin Brown is an award-winning journalist and host of The Inside Track on CBC Radio One. During her 17 years in sports journalism, she has interviewed some of the biggest names in Canadian sport, from Wayne Gretzky and Ben Johnson, to Cindy Klassen and Perdita Felicien, and has reported from the past six Olympic Games.
Robin's debut as a sports reporter for CBC Radio took place in 1990 in Winnipeg, where she immediately became headline news when the Blue Bombers barred her from the dressing room because of her gender.
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Comments
Mike P
I say let him compete! Win or lose, he's not concealing the fact that he is using something that is arguably giving him an advantage over other athletes. You can bet he knows he's going to take the heat for it ... even if the IAAF was somehow forced to allow him to compete.
How many Olympic/Pro sport Cheats, detected or undetected, can say that? Even when caught red-handed, they spout denials and weasel-words, like the only thing they did wrong was get caught.
Posted February 12, 2008 08:22 PM
Nick
I Think they should have an 'all steriod' olympics. I - for one - wouldn't mind seeing the hundred meter dash done in 5 seconds.
Or a power lifter do two buicks!
It would be a helluva lot more entertaining than what is now the norm.
Posted February 11, 2008 10:59 PM
Tannice
Since no machine has ever been designed that can fully copy the intricacies of the movement of the foot and ankle, I wonder if he really has an advantage in body alignment. Is he compensating or using energy in some other way that may not have been measured? What about the area where the prosthesis meets his actual leg limb? Are there discomforts there that Pistorius has to overcome or endure that other runners do not? Had the testing taken in account the extra energy that it took for a real limb to bring the blood back to the heart and the fact that Pistorius’s body did not have to pump blood this extra distance? I think as Van Zyl said, more testing has to be done.
Posted February 11, 2008 10:48 PM
Tyler Mosher
As a walking parapalegic who is 40% paralyzed below the waist and competes against amputees in Cross Country Skiing and Snowboarding, I reluctantly agree with the IAAF with respect to the Olympic decision. Although Mr. Pistorius is accomplishing something remarkable, I do think a double amp on these modified blades makes him better then 100% of what he could be or have been with his own two legs.
Classifying people in sport competition who have to adapt to modifications or handicaps so to say, in order to create a level playing field is a thankless and arduous task. Yet it has to be done. I know I have my issues in how it is decided where I compete and like it or not, at the end of the day it is subjective and it isn't fair. Life isn't fair.
I agree that Mr. Pistorius should continue his fight if he so pleases, however he is no Brian Mc Keever. Mr. McKeever has no mechanical advantage, only a harder hill to climb then most of his competitors when it comes to the fact that he only sees about 10% of what evryone else does. Yet both athletes should be commended for their high acheivement.
I think we should all be happy that in today's world, due to medicical, scientific and engineering advances we are all able to have this conversation. Mr. Pistorius and I would be in a wheelchair if that wasn't the case.
Posted January 24, 2008 01:38 PM
Jason
Halifax
Agreed. Truer words ever spoken.
Posted January 24, 2008 11:43 AM
Jim
Timmins
Everybody aboard the PC train to whinneytown! I feel for Oscar-the world needs more courageous souls like him. I dont see what is the problem here though. Running is one of the purest sports that exists in the olympics. The only advantage one athlete can have over another is physical pedigree, and rigorous training. Why should the question of mechanical advantage be considered? As far as I'm concerned it isn't much different than performance enhancing drugs - as long as one athlete uses while another does not, the playing field isn't level. And it is a moot point as to if the cheetah's are an advantage or not - quantitative proof is speculative at best. Consider when klapper skates became widely used in speedskating - circa 1996. The average gold medal men's times from 1972-1992 dropped by 5.8%, but yet when klapper skates became widely used the same times dropped an average of 10% in the next 10 years. Imagine the unfair advantage if only some skaters were allowed to wear them. The only way you a competitor in a race should be able to wear the cheetahs is if everyone is allowed to. I know I'm about to get villified over this comment, but the olympics have turned from a noble competition of amature athletes, to a media circus of have's versus have not's competing for fame and fortune. I see this as the next step in the downfall.
Posted January 21, 2008 12:10 PM