Gizmodo 
Enter your username and password.
Tip your editors:
tips@gizmodo.com
Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | Email | Twitter
Editor:
Jason Chen
Email | AIM | Twitter
Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
Email | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor:
Jesus Diaz
Email | AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
Email | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
Email | Twitter
Sean Fallon
Email | Twitter
Jack Loftus
Email | Twitter
John Herrman
Email | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Email
Chris Mascari
Email
Danny Allen
Email | Twitter
Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner
Interns:
Don Nguyen
Email
Chris Jacob
Email
Comment Intern:
Nick Ellenoff | Email
Comment Account Questions:
Comments@gizmodo.com
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
05:56 PM
The compromise seems pretty simple: if you willing to amputate limbs to increase athletic performance, there should be no restrictions to your competing. The frustrations one would encounter using a wheelchair everywhere else in the world should be seen a sacrifice far exceeding the proverbial getting up early in the morning to work out. Those 'fortunate' enough to be born without limbs (and in wheelchair racing having lower extremities is a disadvantage having to with weight and chair design) would be the same as a basketball player fortunate enough to be born tall. Or with exceptionally acute vision. Wade Boggs' hitting skills were mostly attributed to that fact.
The cultural exclusion is fascinating -- these athletes are seen less than normal and more than human simultaneously. #oscarpistorius
05:24 PM
Thank you. #oscarpistorius
05:11 PM
04:56 PM
05:25 PM
Imagine how bad that would hurt?
And how it would affect the scores of divers... #oscarpistorius
05:41 PM
04:50 PM
That said, I'd like to consider Lance Armstrong for a moment. Comparing him to, well pretty much any other human, when it comes to cycling is apples to oranges. His heart, lungs, and pretty much all the rest of him are physiologically amazing and optimal for his sport. So if saying a prosthesis makes you so distinctive that you can't legitimately be compared to your peers, why isn't that true of Lance. #oscarpistorius
05:43 PM
04:42 PM
04:35 PM
But good for apple to have their hall of consumerism and Steve Jobs worshipping up, it's very good looking.
But I'm pretty sure the price tags inside aren't. #applestore
04:25 PM
In swimming, dive caps are simply part of the game, and you can't exactly penalize someone for shaving their head bald to reduce drag, It's only natural that someone would try to make swimsuits that create less drag than bare skin, but the public never really anticipated the benefits of muscle compression (they also never anticipated how making a swimming pool significantly deeper and wider would make it a "fast pool", but you never heard that mentioned by people who were calling for a ban on full-body suits).
As for the blades, I believe it is legitimately possible to develop an artificial leg that _will_ provide an unfair advantage over a natural leg, but I've yet to see any conclusive proof that the blades succeeded. Regardless of what the facts are, blades _look_ like they'll make you faster, and they're lighter than natural legs as well. You know, nevermind the fact that blades require the application of external force to work, as compared to how natural legs can generate their own force.
The real issue in whether or not blades will ever be accepted in track competitions is that there's no way to prove whether Runner A can run faster with blades than with natural legs. You can't simply swap them with each other and do comparative time trials. Maybe if there's ever a case where genetic twins run track and consistently finish with similar times, and one of them ends up getting blades after a double-amputation and _still_ finishes with times that nearly match the other twin... #oscarpistorius
04:01 PM
Thank you, Aimee, for this fantastic and obviously deeply thought out, article. #oscarpistorius
03:53 PM
There's a difference between carbon fiber legs and LASIK vision and techy swim suits: techy swimsuits are removable off the field, so it doesn't mess with the athlete's individual lives. LASIK is not removable, but it improves the quality of life for people who need it in every area, not just golf.
What "enhancements" like carbon fiber legs and steroids do is ask athletes to make an immoral choice, whether to permanently screw their body off the field so they can get an advantage on the field. Although steroid users enjoy better strength in sports, they sacrifice on their general health off the field. Similarly, carbon fiber legs present the moral choice of selective amputation to athletes in general, if they haven't been forced to do so otherwise, in order to run faster - but they are then forced to go through all of the smaller coordination problems and little things like annoyances at the airport. What people are scared of, I think, is the moral implications of what society has become if we allow ourselves to do this, rather than understanding that there are more important things than athletics.
I personally think you should be allowed to compete with them, because you weren't given this choice, it was forced on you. But at the same time, I think naysayers would stop whining if carbon fiber attachments could be made to the bottom of athletic shoes to give a similar "advantage". #oscarpistorius
03:50 PM
I'm not competitive, but there's always the voice in the back of my head saying I have no business doing this. I've run around 20 of 'em now. But then I think about my incredibly shitty eyesight, and to carry that "no business" thought further, before the invention of corrective glasses, I surely would have walked myself off a cliff or been eaten by a bear before I turned 20. So, naturally speaking, I have no business being alive at this point. Which, for me, renders the whole train of thought moot. Hooray for inventions of enablement!
Back to mile 17. My knees were griping a bit. My left ankle was a little tweaked. I had impressive blisters on my toes. A guy with Cheetahs passed me on the left by hopping onto and back down from a 10" curbed median....and freakin' disappeared into the distance.
Inwardly, "no blisters on HIS toes...".
Gave me something to think about for the next 9 miles.
I have no answers. #oscarpistorius
05:18 PM
05:43 PM
03:45 PM
One question though: Why is the page's title crediting Oscar Pistorious? Shouldn't Aimee get the credit for her own incredible article? #oscarpistorius
03:45 PM
Tiger's disability was impaired sight. While sight has some stuff to do with how golf is played, the main hunk of golf is fine motor control. Just like in archery, sure you have to see the target, but just seeing the target does not greatly improve the motor skills used to shoot the arrow.
Not only that, but Lasik surgery has no barriers to entry. Anyone with impaired vision (up to a point) can go and get Lasik. While replacement limbs do not allow people to do that. Only a small minority of athletes can get limbs, and if a new limb comes out, they can upgrade overnight and be better in the morning (just like with the swimwear). Those things can be regulated (elasticity of limbs, drag coefficient of suits, etc.) which is what needs to be done.
Tiger's vision simply brought him *up* to the level of vision of his competition. Unless he had a super surgery that allowed him to zoom in and perfectly measure distances, then he did not exceed the level of sight of his competition or his competition could achieve with Lasik. Two people with Lasik will (most likely) both see the same... 20/20. But with things as suits and limbs, different companies have different levels of performance of their products. The company where you get your swimwear greatly influences your performance in the race.
It is also a Quality of Life issue. Tiger's quality of life suffered due to his vision impairedness in "every day activities". While I imagine having no legs greatly reduces your quality of life, I doubt that wearing cheetah legs during "every day activities" improves it more so than other types of legs. Just like with suits. Wearing one of those shark suits in everyday activities wont increase the quality of life. #oscarpistorius
03:54 PM
Please note: 20/15 #oscarpistorius
03:56 PM
03:58 PM
04:03 PM
Sports are not about sight, smell, or hearing. While those things enhance how well you play, sports are judged on muscle memory, muscle performance, and motor skills. #oscarpistorius
03:34 PM
03:28 PM
04:27 PM
Same way that guys deal with dangly bits between their legs. Strap them down as best you can, and hope they don't come loose during competition. #oscarpistorius