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ATHLETICS Pistorius Olympic dream turns to nightmare | |
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| South African runner Oscar Pistorius settles in the blocks before winning the Mens 400m 'B' race during the IAAF Golden Gala at The Olympic Stadium on July 13, 2007 in Rome, Italy (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) |
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MONTE-CARLO, December 20, 2007 – A German biomechanics professor has revealed the results of IAAF funded tests he carried out on South African double-amputee Paralympian champion Oscar Pistorius to German newspaper Die Welt – before Pistorius had a chance to see the results for himself.And the news is not good for the young runner known as the “fastest man on no legs” who is campaigning to be allowed to run against able bodied athletes in the 400 metres at the Beijing Olympic Games next year. World renown Professor Peter Bruggemann, director of the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics at the German Sport University in Cologne, last month conducted private tests on Pistorius and six able-bodied athletes who had similar 400-metre times. But before Pistorius who holds Paralympc records in the 100, 200 and 400 sprints, had a chance to digest the findings, Bruggemann told Die Welt that Pistorius has a major advantage over his rivals.
“He has a considerable advantage compared with athletes without prosthetic limbs who have undergone the same tests,” Professor Peter Bruggemann told Die Welt. “The difference is several percentage points and I did not think the findings would be so clear.
“His aerobic performance was worse, his anaerobic performance was the same. He could be in better shape. The fact that he still runs the same times as the other runners is due to his prosthetics. The prosthetics return 90 per cent of the impact energy, compared to the 60 per cent of the human foot.” Pistorius was accompanied by manager Peet Van Zyl and Kurt Lech, a representative of Ossür, the Icelandic company that produces the carbon fibre prostheses known as “blades”. He ran on a track followed by 15 television cameras and participated in a number of fitness and stamina tests that were monitored electronically.
Twenty-one-year-old Pistorius was born without fibulas and his parents made the heart-breaking decision to amputate his legs below the knees when he was 11 months old. He has competed in the 400 at two international-level able-bodied meets in 2007. He finished second in a "B" race in 46.90 seconds at the Golden League meet in Rome on July 13 and, two days later, was disqualified for running out of his lane in Sheffield, England.
As yet, the young South African has not issued a statement on the test results.
The IAAF says it will not make any comment until January 10, 2008. Yesterday internatonal athletic's governing body released this official statement. “In July 2007, the IAAF decided to carry out full biomechanical analysis of the Paralympic Champion Oscar Pistorius (RSA), in an effort to obtain scientific data about the prosthetics that Oscar, who is a double amputee, uses when he runs. The tests, which took place on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 November 2007 at the German Sport University in Cologne (Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics) were commissioned by the IAAF in order to see whether the prosthetics used by Oscar should be considered as technical aids, in contravention of IAAF competition rule 144.2. The IAAF can confirm that Professor Peter Bruggemann's report was received yesterday and has been sent today to Oscar Pistorius' representative in confidence. At present, the IAAF does not plan to discuss the contents of the report, or make any public announcement about any decision related to the report, until 10 January 2008”.
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