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Double amputee Oscar Pistorius will race in the London Olympic games
Four years ago, double amputee Oscar Pistorius -- aka the Blade Runner -- was battling bureaucracy (and his own ability) for the chance to compete in the Beijing Olympics. He might not have made the cut for China, but this time around he's secured his ticket to London. The South African athlete was already penned in for the 4 x 400 meters relay, and will now also compete in the singles 400 meters -- said to be his favorite distance. The South African Olympic committee made a last-minute decision to include Pistorius in the team, making him the first amputee track athlete to compete in the full Olympic games. An amazing achievement in its own right, but a race victory on top of the bureaucratic one would surely be the ultimate finish.
Oscar Pistorius fails to qualify for the Olympics
It seems like the endless legal struggle to be allowed to compete in the Olympics took its toll on cyborg sprinter Oscar Pistorious -- he didn't qualify for the South African Olympic team on Wednesday, after failing to run the 400 under the 45.55 second minimum required to make the trip to Beijing. Interestingly, Pistorious's 46.25-second time was his best ever, even though critics claimed that the double-amputee's "Cheetah" prosthetics allowed him to use only 25 percent of the energy used by traditional runners. That's not the last we'll see of Oscar, though -- he says he's happy with his season's results, and he'll be back to try out for the 2012 Games in London.
Oscar Pistorius free to qualify for Olympics on prosthetics
Good news for the cyborgs in the crowd: the ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations that barred double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorious from a shot at the Olympics has been overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Detractors from Oscar's entry into the Olympics have cited a suspect study that says Oscar could be using as little as 25% of the energy of other sprinters, thanks to the mechanical advantage of his "Cheetah" prosthetics, which basically act as springs. Others feared that this could set a dangerous precedent for the entry of bionics into athletic competition, but the ruling was rather tightly worded, and if related cases come up they will be tried individually. Of course, Oscar still has to qualify, and his personal best in the 400 is about a second off the qualifying time for Beijing. Even if he can't make it, he plans try for the world championships and the London Olympics in 2012.
