Yes its been a while......
I note that the South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius has smashed his personal best with a time of 45.07 seconds for the 400mm.
Pistorius' dream is to run at the 2012 Olympics. Pistorius, who runs using two "blades" to replace his amputated lower legs, has been cleared to use his blades in competition against able bodied atheletes.
This decision didn't attract much controversy when Pistorius' best time was 45.6 but now he'll be going to the world championships the first amputee to do so.
The question is is Pistorius gain an advantage using his blades? It has been shown that technological advances can have significant impacts on sport. The move from wooden rackets in tennis, the improvements in distance in golf. In Athletics track technologies can impact times.
I have sympathy for Pistorius and I'm sure we all admire his triumph over adversity but if this time next year he shaves another half a second using new blades we'll wonder how much is him and much the blades.
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