What is Digg?135 Comments
- edstittle, on 05/17/2008, -2/+69I know it's nice to let him and all. But it could be an unfair advantage, like he has springs in his legs etc which must help.
- NaziHatinChimp, on 05/17/2008, -1/+38I'm glad they let that girl from Portal into the Olympics.
- raynar, on 05/17/2008, -2/+36because his legs weigh less than real legs for one...they dont fatigue for another..
- Quickdood, on 05/17/2008, -1/+25Would his heart not having to circulate blood to his lower legs be an advantage? His heart would most likely work less than an ordinary person and may give him more energy.
- mathwizkid, on 05/17/2008, -1/+23I have doubts. How can you really determine whether he has an advantage or not?
- buffyangel108, on 05/17/2008, -2/+21+1 for Skynet
- franciscofelipe, on 05/17/2008, -5/+20if he can use a this "device" nothing can forbid any athlete to ride a bike or even wear an iron man suit in a few years..
- piesforyou, on 05/17/2008, -3/+18Because the legs may give him an unfair advantage over the other athletes.
- EdwinJ85, on 05/17/2008, -2/+17Ok, sorry but I am TOTALLY against this. The first report says he can keep olympic speed up 25% easier than those with normal human legs. If this keeps up, how long until atheletes are forced to modify their body to keep up with the 'disabled'? We all know technology can do things faster or stronger than humans can, I do not see it as fair to raise the bar to a mechanical level far above what normal humans can achieve. I don't want to live in a world where to have a chance at sport you have to replace parts of yourself with prothetics or robotics.
F1 could make a robotic car that could win every race easily, but that goes against the whole point of the sport, seeing how well people can compete with each other and themselves, not machines.
If using drugs is wrong and against the rules because it gives you an unfair advantage, using machines is equally as wrong. If this is ok, then steroids must be ok as well. I know this is the slippery slope fallacy but I really do see a very slippery slope here. - MrZaiko, on 05/17/2008, -1/+14They should just have a separate category for it, believe it or not, is not fair for the others ones who have to deal with joints and muscle pain.
- Cytranic, on 05/17/2008, -5/+16This guys legs are spring loaded...This is complete BS that this guy can compete. Think about it, if you had springs on your shoes you can jump faster, and propel yourself faster. This is an unfair advantage.
The worst part is he is already running faster then anyone else competing. They might as well just give the guy his gold metal now.
I feel bad that the guy lost his legs, but he shouldn't have legs tailored to beat everyone running. - LittleDas, on 05/17/2008, -2/+12For everyone who is saying this gives him an advantage, try to remember he is running with around 2/3 the muscle mass in his legs as your average sprinter, whether or not it gives him an advantage is something to decide with rigorous testing, not anecdotes about your friend who has a prosthetic or how you think his springy 'feet' will be an obvious boon to him.
Anyway, they determined that the evidence was inconclusive as to whether or not the upsides outweighed the downsides. - Quickdood, on 05/17/2008, -0/+9Just a matter of time before the cyborg olympics...
- RobMackenzie, on 05/17/2008, -1/+9OK, lets go back to basics.
The Olympic games are played to bring countries together, no matter the political standing, and test the limits of the human body. Allowing a disabled person with spring legs is a slippery slope. We already have those speedo bathing suits which are so low drag that they reduce the time on all athletes, in 4 years, I wouldn't be surprised if athletes are coating themselves in some crazy hypersmooth cloth.
Back to basics. Athletes should compete naked for the games. No special suits, tools, equipment or anything. This doesn't really help with all the sports, but IMHO there are a lot of sports that aren't really worthy of Olympic status. (this really works better for summer Olympics... or at leased the ski sports would become a lot more intense)
There should still be the paralympic games, for those who need extra equipment, such as artificial legs, to compete, as well as the special Olympics. These exist to give those less fortunate the chance to win medals, even after whatever happened to them took away their chances of competing. - NaziHatinChimp, on 05/17/2008, -1/+8I can't help to agree. Then now shouldn't everyone be able to use that? I mean I am sorry he lost his legs but guess what? I'll never be a NFL athlete. Am I going to sue them for being to short?
- SonicAD, on 05/17/2008, -4/+11Glad they let him in. I think the CAS are the last resort for cases like this, so if they ruled against him he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on...
- KRNpro, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7Yes. Naked. Beach Vollyball FTW
- MasterPain, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7Graph a car below the knees.
- MasterPain, on 05/17/2008, -1/+8Now all the athletes will have to cut off there legs. soon they will make robotic legs to make them run faster when will it stop.
- damnyooneek, on 05/17/2008, -0/+6he better watch out when I put on my iron man suit
- walkea1, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5no....he still has thighs. And if he has to ultimately use those muscles to power himself, then thats where the lactic acid would build up.
- glawton, on 05/17/2008, -1/+6actually, that's wrong.
http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=393&sid=1323950
not only does he have an advantage as far as the energy his prosthetics return in each stride, but his heart is required to do less work not having the bottom halves of his legs, his body doesn't need to consume as much energy as an average person and he doesn't have to worry about lactic acid build up, torn/pulled muscles or tendons, etc.
allowing him to compete is absurd, and clearly just a publicity stunt on his part. his times aren't even close to fast enough to qualify for the Olympics. just good enough to beat up on some D-III school athletes. a girl missing half of only one leg recently qualified for the Olympics in swimming without the use of a flipper or some other advantage-giving device, so why should we let him try with this unfair aid? - nonsapiens, on 05/17/2008, -5/+10Actually, they ran tests on the elasticity of his prosthetics vs. the natural spring found in normal (or athletic legs), and found that (a) the prosthetics are weighted properly in ratio accordance to a normal leg, and that (b) the human leg is at an advantage over the prosthetic - deliberatly so - to prevent people from crying foul.
/Yay South Africa
//South African. - DavidTTT, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5Just one step closer to robot Olympic domination.
- jameskong15, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5The massive amount of ignorance here is hilarious. People claiming slippery slope obviously never actually read the article. If they had, they would see this applies to no other racer and each case has to be considered independently. People also continue to reference the “research” that was done for the first hearing. Had they read this article, they would see that those overseeing the appeal found various flaws in the initial research approaches, received new research that showed a lack of advantage, and ultimately came to the decision that the pervious ruling was made in error; but I guess you schmucks know so much more than those who made the decision and reviewed all the evidence.
I just find it amazing how we have so many experts on fake legs, running, muscular efficiencies, and the cardiovascular system that pop out to spout their views on digg rather than writing some articles for peer-review to prove their theory. - Bahwoot, on 05/17/2008, -2/+7No fkin way...
- burningmanstan, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5He might have an advantage. However its not like this type of equipment makes every double amputee a super athlete. He is way faster than other amputees with similar equipment and has set several paralympic records. If the entire paralympic team was fast enough to win gold at the olympics I would have a problem with it. In this case it is clear that this guy is an exception and he is probably the only double amputee in the world who even has a chance to qualify. Double amputees are a tiny percentage of the population and the probability of having an exceptional athlete within that population is extremely low. I seriously doubt that we would see another double amputee who could compete at this level, with this equipment within our life time. Now if paralympic equipment becomes much better I could see were this would be a problem.
- dazparkour, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5Amputate an able bodied runner, see if it makes him faster or slower.
- hshadow914, on 05/18/2008, -0/+4I'm not sure how many diggers run, but I do and have run 400m a few times, and the fact that his blade compresses to store energy, and releases it as a spring would is ridiculous. A non-amputee runner would need strong calf muscles to store the energy and stay on their toes, and keep sprinting almost full speed a grueling quarter mile, and the lactic acid buildup in the calfs is nearly unbearable.
If one were to watch a video of him running, the last 100m shows why he has such a great advantage, coming from almost last place, to nearly winning, and obviously not nearly as tired as anyone else at the end walking up calmly to congratulate the winner, while everyone else is exhausted . His 100m time isn't really impressive but 400m is more impressive simply because he has so much more energy left b/c of stored energy in his prosthetics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv46b0NULFs&NR=1 - Grok22, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4"Pistorius must meet the qualifying standard of 45.55 seconds in the 400 meters to gain an automatic berth in Beijing (or 45.95 seconds for a provisional spot); his current personal best is 46.33, according to his coach, Ampie Louw. With 64 days left, he is in a race to race." - he wont make it anyways.
- kevman459, on 05/17/2008, -2/+6Anyone else think he looks like a Stalker from Half-Life 2?
http://www.hlfallout.net/images/content/enemies/fu ... - NeoNevermore, on 05/17/2008, -2/+6You know what would be fair? Letting him compete in the Olympics, WITHOUT his prosthetics.
Sure, some of you may say that his prosthetics do not give him an advantage, but what if they make better prosthetics in 2012? Can he give himself an upgrade? And what if another amputee can afford better prosthetics? It becomes less and less about a person's physical ability. - lead2thehead, on 05/17/2008, -1/+5This is clearly an unfair advantage. Those prosthetics are specially engineered for running... they are longer than normal legs, they weigh less, and they're spring loaded. I've seen guys run in these things before and they can easily outrun a person with normal legs.
- irgeorge, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4That's some science right there.
- krekc, on 05/17/2008, -2/+6In the case previous to this that banned him proved scientifically why he has an unfair advantage. I heard it on the radio yesterday and if I recall correctly there where 3 reasons why.
1. He doesnt have an ankle to act as a hinge, he has more or less a spring.
2. If you think about impact on the leg, human legs cushion the blow from running on the ground, these legs he has spring him from the ground.
3. His artificial legs weigh far less then human legs.
That was the jist of the discussion so yes he does have an advantage. However he still has to qualify but he could be assigned to the relay team but the relay team still has to qualify also. - inactive, on 05/17/2008, -5/+9The Olympics suk as politics took over long ago. this is the death knoll of the sport.
- Pake, on 05/17/2008, -1/+5Same, it's nice, but he's definitely going to have an advantage. I asked my friend about this last year who is only missing his right leg from the knee down and he said that when he runs, his left leg greatly limits his speed.
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -1/+4Athletics... Not popular?
The entire reason the summer Olympics exist is for athletics. - 9bpm9, on 05/17/2008, -5/+8The Olympics are about taking the human body to the limits, and I'm sorry to say, but this guy does not have a human body and should not be able to compete.
- thedez, on 05/17/2008, -0/+3Lt. Dan's got magic legs.
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -1/+4People really look over the obvious when talking about his legs... He may not have the same springiness as real human legs, but his ... don't produce lactic acid ... Which is obviously the biggest problem to anyone running 400s. If he was running 100 or 200 I'd say let him compete, but he has a hugely unfair advantage in the 400.
- jmzook, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2So-called able-bodied athletes have always used technological advances for their advantage. Could world records in track and field be broken without advances in running shoes, track suits, sports nutrition, etc...? Why don't they just make athletes compete naked and barefoot, to prevent anyone from using evil technology to win unfairly. It would be like the original Olympic games.
- projectx3150, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2I actually thought Eli Vance myself, at least as far as the carbon-fiber goes.
- jackbauer007, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2wait... so no shoes endorsements?
- Resolute, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Also, they can't even make a car AI reliable enough to drive on highways; any AI-controlled car would crash and burn on the F1 circuit.
- scotishstriker, on 05/17/2008, -1/+3That is incredibly unfair in my mind. are the Japanies going to enter robots in the 100 yard dash
- joot2112, on 05/17/2008, -1/+3Can you only see the disadvantages of having legs ... when you're trying to RUN? How about the ability to feel your feet? Using only your thighs and gluteus and NO calf muscles? Come on people, would you at least acknowledge that it's amazing that the argument is whether he's at an ADVANTAGE?
- sephiroth965, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2They have them. They're called paralympics.
- ry4nsm1th, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Are you kidding? No one is in a struggle to keep up with the "disabled." He hasn't even hit the qualifying time.
- gizzymo, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2"He also found that they could return energy in maximum speed sprinting and that Pistorius was able to keep up with a few able-bodied sprinters while expending about 25 percent less energy" - Any disabled person I know wants to achieve their goals under their own willpower and endurance, and does not want to be pitied or receive any special treatment and I totally respect that. Been allowed to run with something that allows you expend 25% less energy than your opponents, that its special treatment, and its almost an insult to other disabled people everywhere, as the sheer strength and determination so many of these people have, its amazing, and way beyond my own. The dont need special treatment, certainly not in the form of allowing an advantage that would not be allowed to a fully able bodied athlete.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 135 discussions
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 