Pistorius shows disabled sport can stand controversy

The blades of Brazil's Alan Oliveira (R) and South Africa's Oscar Pistorius are seen after the Men's 200m T44 classification at the Olympic Stadium during the London 2012 Paralympic Games September 2, 2012. Pistorius complained vociferously about the length of his opponent's blades after he was beaten into second by Brazil's Oliveira in the men's 200 metres final at the London Paralympic Games on Sunday. Picture taken September 2, 2012.  [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - South African "blade runner" Oscar Pistorius has unleashed a debate about disabled sport with an emotional claim that a rival in the T44 200 metres final at the London Paralympics beat him thanks to longer prosthetic legs.

Pistorius had not been beaten over 200m for nine years, but the result of Sunday's final was less of a shock than the post-race outburst of a man who is the face of disabled sport partly thanks to his dignified campaign to be allowed to challenge able-bodied runners at the Olympics.

"The size of some of the other guys' legs are unbelievably long," Pistorius told Britain's Channel 4 television.

"We're not racing a fair race. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have the regulations, but the regulations allow the athletes to make themselves unbelievably high."

Besides detracting from the victory of Brazil's Alan Oliveira, it was a surprising rant from a man who had convinced sports administrators that his own carbon-fibre blades gave him no advantage over able-bodied runners.

So can Paralympic medals be decided by the length of an artificial leg? And where does that leave a branch of sport striving to be taken as seriously as able-bodied sport?

Slippery Slope

If Pistorius has a case, it is certainly not that Oliveira's longer blades give him a longer stride.

South African-based sports scientist and coach Ross Tucker pointed out on his blog "The Science of Sport" that Oliveira took 98 strides to Pistorius's 92.

John Brewer, Director of Sport at the University of Bedfordshire in Britain, said the advantages of longer blades were not clear.

"With any lever, the length could leverage more force, but I also suspect that longer blades would increase instability," he said.

Pistorius accepts Oliveira's blades were legal. This means Pistorius could also have used them, if he had been prepared to change from the blades that he was authorised to wear against able-bodied runners at the London Olympics four weeks ago.

"This situation may be a reason to force Paralympians to use the same kind of technology, while of course adjusting to their individual body types," said Andy Miah, Director of the Creative Futures Institute at the University of the West of Scotland.

"The big question emerging from the T44 200m final is whether the Paralympic rules need to be tighter ... If Oliveira's prosthetic legs are bigger and better and legal, then Pistorius really ought to get some."

But how to tighten the rules?

Pistorius was born without proper lower legs. It might be possible to work out the leg length of an average person with Pistorius's upper body, but Pistorius is not average.

"In elite athletes ... the ranges that you'd find in the normal population don't apply," Tucker wrote, adding that Oliveira may just have been catching up with Pistorius in finding his personal optimal blade length.

"If you're wondering about whether Pistorius has a valid argument, then welcome to the slippery slope that is the introduction of technology with no clear answers to the sport."