Pistorius complains after Paralympic defeat

Oscar Pistorius complained vociferously about the length of his opponent’s blades after he was beaten into second by Brazil’s Alan Oliveira in the men’s 200 metres final at the London Paralympic Games today.

[b]South African Pistorius streaked into an early lead and was almost 10 metres ahead as the athletes came into the home straight, before the Brazilian launched an astonishing fightback.

Oliveira ate up the ground and surged past Pistorius in the final few metres.[/b]

The underdog finished with a time of 21.45 seconds, seven hundredths of a second ahead of Pistorius, who won gold in the event four years ago in Beijing, with American Blake Leeper in third.

The result left Pistorius seething about his opponent’s prosthetic blades, which he claimed were too long.

“This is a really strong race of mine, and as I said in the mixed zone, the size of some of the other guys’ legs are unbelievably long,” Pistorius told Britain’s Channel 4.

"Not taking anything away from Alan, he’s a great athlete, but the guys who do the measuring in the courtrooms, some of these guys are a lot taller and you can’t compete for stride length.

"We’re not racing a fair race. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have the regulations, but the regulations allow the athletes to make themselves unbelievably high. We tried to address the issue in the weeks leading up to this, but it fell on deaf ears.

"The guys are running ridiculous times. Alan is a great athlete, but I run just over 10 metres per second, so I don’t know how you can come back from eight metres behind after 100m to win. It’s ridiculous."

Oliveira’s winning time was still 0.15 seconds slower than the world record set by Pistorius in Saturday’s heat.

The 25-year-old, dubbed the “Blade Runner”, was defending the 100m, 200m and 400m Olympic titles he won in Beijing four years ago. Last month, he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and made the 400 metres semi-finals.

“The length of my blades are alright because I went through all the procedures with the referees,” Oliveira said.

"Once I came inside the track, it had all been cleared up and I think Pistorius also knows that.

"I have been using them for a whole month; just the same blades, according to the IPC rules…

“I am very happy, I have written my story on the Paralympic wall.”

  • Reuters

//youtu.be/8gHnJz-lxLg

It turns out that Pistorius took 92 steps during the race (2.2m per stride), and Oliveira took 98 steps to win gold (2m per stride). To break it down further: in the first 100m, Pistorius took 49 steps (2.0m per stride), with 43 steps in the straight (2.3m per stride).

Oliveira, on the other hand, took shorter strides: 52 in the first 100m (1.92m each) and 46 in the second 100m (2.2m each).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/sep/03/oscar-pistorius-stride-length-oliveira

120903011507917_Oliviera.mainpicture_612.jpg

He mad he got ate up

It’s funny cause he was running in the normal oly games with lots of people asking “are those blades giving him an unfair advantage against able bodied athletes”

Looks like the answer is in…

the answer according to him is he doesn’t but others do… victim identity

Oliveira’s legs do look longer than Pistorius legs though from the picture.

Nothing against Pistorius or any other paralympians, but there is no way he or anyone else with prosthetic limbs should EVER be allowed to compete in the Olympics or WC’s or any other major international meet. It is a FACT that the prosthetic limbs provide an unfair athletic advantage. Dr. Peter Weyand has stated that the limbs can provide up to a 10 second advantage for Pistorius over 400m!!!

[i]The formula that determines the length of blades allowed calculates the predicted height of an athlete, plus 3.5 percent to account for the on-toes running position.

Pistorius’ maximum allowable height is 1.93 meters, yet he opts to stand at 1.84m in blades that were subjected to stringent testing in 2008 to show they provide no advantage when competing alongside able-bodied rivals.

Oliveira, whose limit is 1.85 meters, claimed Monday that his blades gave him a race height of 1.81 the previous night.[/i]

from http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/7609325/Era-of-Blade-runner-invincibility-at-an-end

I agree. His legs are lighter and have much more spring. He also has less leg fatigue to deal with

So an able bodied athlete would be faster over 499 if he had his lower legs removed??

Removed then have to learn to walk…doubt that.
Born with no legs…learn to use them…then have space age materials and technology create springs. I’d say advantage