I hope the IAAF disclose this report to the public. Lets wait and see what peer review journals say.
If that happens, I suspect the reviews will confirm the results. Even just watching him run it looks like he has a significant advantage. From the summary, it looks pretty solid.
A BBC worldservice report stressed that once Oscar reached his optimal velocity, he was able to hold it using 25 per cent less energy than a handful of able-bodied runners who participated in the same tests. That has major implications for endurance, obviously.
I wonder what they used as the control ?
There is strong grounds to dispute the conclusions.
That 25% figure is based on ankle mechanics alone. It does not consider energy return at the hip or knee joint. Measuring energy return at one joint. Is not reflective of full body mechanics.
Sure, but there are perhaps flow-on implications which one would have to assume the Cologne guys took into account. They have their own reputations to protect and would definitely realise that whatever conclusion they came up with would be studied world-wide by other experts in the field.
What I am saying is that their conclusions are based on testing X. If they tested Y then the conclusions would be different.
It would of been more reliable, if they used as the control, " single leg amputee athlete". And compare total leg mechanics of each joint of the prosthetic leg v normal leg.
the very fact that they studied this at all in order to kick out this poor schmo tells you why they need an image makeover in the first place.
I think the greater issue here is not whether or not Oscar’s artificial limbs give him an advantage, but the precedent established by allowing him to compete.
At the rate this science is accelerating, it isn’t hard to imagine artificial limbs being produced in the near future which clearly outperform their natural counterparts. What do we do then? Reverse the decision?
The control was the group of regular runners with similar performance times.
There has been the technology around for a while that would be able to produce very significant performance gains (and based on this report, which we haven’t read ourselves, Oscar’s Cheetah prosthetics already do that for him). Think about the ability to increase stride length while having almost zero mass below the knee.
Oscar running 200m last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnoGaLAMq48
Slow-Mo of Oscar running:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc-UKB2jZ8Y
No evidence to suggest prosthetics will allow athletes run faster then able bodied athletes.
A more valid control group would of been paralympic athletes with one able leg. Comparing kinetics of prosthetic leg v normal leg would of allowed the conclusions to have greater power.
I think a problem with that is that there aren’t any single-leg athletes who can run the same times as Oscar, so any comparison between he and they are automatically influenced by a significant time difference.
They would be a more valid control group than able body athletes, given the fact that Oscar is a double leg amputee. Using able body athletes as the control group discredits the conclusions that they made. It is paramount that characteristics of the control group are similar to the testing subject. Even considering the level of performance of single-leg amputees, they would have been a better choice.
technology is on a big exponental upward swing, what did prosthetics look like 25 years ago?
Power in sprinting is generated from the hips. Regardless how efficient prosthetic technology is, they won’t be able to generate torque at the hip joint. Given that the literature has a consensus, that power is generated at the hip joint. Why did the IAAF study draw their conclusions from what happens at the ankle joint.
Most power is generate from the hip joint, not all of the power. Do you fail to realize that? What about the fatigue mechanisms associated with having a prosthetic lower leg? In fact, why not address Pistorius’s incredibly unusual split times in his races that seem to only be described by the prosthetic limbs?
Olympic Runners Feeling Stupid For Cutting Off Legs Before Finding Out About Prosthetic Ban
August 23, 2007
NEW YORK—An International Association of Athletics Federations ruling Monday disallowing double-leg amputee Oscar Pistorius, who uses special Cheetah-brand racing prosthetics, from participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics has left over 70 U.S. Olympic track and field hopefuls feeling “pretty stupid” for their recent decisions to cut off their own legs in an attempt to gain a similar advantage.
“I really wish they would have told me before I amputated my legs that I wouldn’t be allowed to run with those performance-enhancing prosthetic limbs,” 110-m. hurdles competitor David Payne said from his recovery room at the Johns Hopkins intensive care unit.
“If I was going to be hobbled by being forced to use my healthy, normal legs to run, I should have been informed. Damn it.”
Though the IAAF has remained steadfast in its decision, over 1,200 Olympic hopefuls from all representative countries have also cut off their own legs as a display of solidarity with their fellow competitors.
lol is that from the Onion?