There was a time when a legless man would only qualify for the Paralympics. Oscar Pistorius, who had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, is hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, as "the fastest man on no legs." He runs on curved blades that some argue, give him an unfair advantage. The debate has started a conversation among athletes about the line between correction, and enhancement. What constitutes an unfair advantage? Pistorius' bouncy blades, Tiger Woods lasik eye correction?
Blog of the Nation
There is certainly an advantage with prosthetics over flesh and blood: Consider a scenario where Oscar runs a 100-meter dash against an able-bodied runner, and both happen to step on a nail. The able-bodied runner is thus out of the race, in pain, and will have to take a tetanus shot, while Oscar could just get up and keep running if he fell in the first place.
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