EMMELOORD, The Netherlands, May 31, 2008 (AFP) - Double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who aims to compete against able-bodied athletes at the Beijing Olympics, won a 200m paralympic meeting in the Dutch city of Emmeloord on Saturday using his specially-adapted carbon fibre blades.
The 21-year-old South African won in 22.04sec and said he was happy with his run - even if he could not quite dip under the 22sec mark.
My ambition was to run under 22sec but I am satisfied,'' said Pistorius, whose personal best over the distance is 21:58. It was my first big race for almost ten months. Rceently I’ve spent more time in court than on the track. It’s great to be back running,’’ said the athlete, cleared to run in the Olympics after the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport overturned an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ban on him competing against able-bodied athletes.
Pistorius, nicknamed Bladerunner, was initially barred from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage.
The Paralympic gold medalist on Tuesday refused an invitation to run in next month’s Berlin Golden League meeting that would have pitted him against America’s 400m Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner, saying he wanted to concentrate on preparations for the season.
In order to be eligible for the race, Pistorius, who had both his legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, must run under 45.55 seconds, while his 400m personal best is 46.46.
21.58 will give mid 46s. What his 400pb?
But from what’s been said about Pistorius (how he speeds up in the second half of the race), I don’t think you can base his 400 off his 200.
The idea that OP speed up in the last 200m was disproved by recent research from Professor Weyland.
I thought Weyland simply stated that OP has no biomechanical advantage, nothing about not speeding up.
Anyhow, just watch one of his 400 races…
And also compare his 100-200-400 pb’s.
He’s not a “typical” performer, I don’t think.
yea his 100m-10.9X then 200m-21.high and 400m is either 46 low or 45 high.
I doubt he will qualify but the guys in a no lose situation.
Almost 1 sec improvement for anyone else would create a lot of questions that may not be asked given his physical situation and the need to be PC.
If he doesn’t he could well claim he could / would have without the hassles he went through to be allowed to try. :rolleyes:
Which is why his last 200 is faster than his first 200? Verified via actual splits.
Weyland showed that OP fatigues at the same rate as other 400m runners.
Can you show us the data that proved this, Sharmer?
[b]Specifically, the scientists concluded that:
-
Pistorius’ ability to maintain speed over the course of longer sprints–his speed-duration relationship–is essentially identical to that of able-bodied runners, indicating that he fatigues in the same manner as able-bodied sprinters.
-
Pistorius’ rates of metabolic energy expenditure do not differ from elite non-amputee runners. In particular, he has nearly the same running economy, or rate of oxygen consumption at submaximal speeds, and a similar maximal rate of oxygen consumption as elite non-amputee runners.[/b]
The study will be published in the JAP. If you disagree with the conclusions of the worlds leading physiologist, you can review the journal.
We’ll see what happens when the study is published as it is clear there are other “world leading physiologists” who happen to disagree and empirically we can see that something is very unusual with his race pattern.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/solomon/5813289.html
I guess Peter is always right? 
“The smaller you are, the more force you can generate to body mass,” Weyand said. "That’s why gymnasts can do triple back flips, and Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming can’t
Cheetahs are 4 feet tall, how come they can’t do back flips.
Gymnasts also CLEARLY create the greatest relative forces to the ground, which is why their verticals are so high :D.
" ‘Well, cheetahs have the same muscles, tendons and bone structure as humans,’ Weyand said.’ "
0 for 3 on that one, Professor :rolleyes:
that is one of the worst articles I have read in ages.
“The smaller you are, the more force you can generate to body mass,” Weyand said
This is true, sprinting comes down to mass specific force as shown by the formula.
Speed = step freq x step length or step freq x Average force/ weight x contact length. Now I’ve yet to see anyone provide any meaningful criticism based the formula provided.
Another great insight by Professor Weyland
I guess that would be why we see all these 50kg guys dominating world sprinting!
Being smaller does not neccessarily dictate more force relative to body mass. Losing too much mass (muscle) means power to weight is diminished…
Look at the formula closely. Step freq x Average force/ weight x contact length
If the 75kg runner applies the same average force over the same contact length, than they would run faster than someone weighting 80kg who generates the same ave force/contact length.
Ben, Mo, Montgomery etc all are relatively light at 77kg. Rugby players at the same height would weight at least 10kg heavier. Olympic lifters who are 5’10 usually lift above 80kg weight class. Sprinters are densely muscled but no means do they carry a lot of mass.