Extreme? Paralympic athlete
Oscar Pistorius. At birth he was missing bones below the knee. After his legs were removed, at the age of one, he learnt to walk on prosthetics, and he believes this pushed him to excel. On the track, they call him “blade runner” - thanks to his carbon fibre prosthetics, custom-made in Iceland.
Tags: Sport-videos, Video
May 16th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Oscar is as fast as he is, not because of his blades, but rather, in spite of his blades.
Oscar broke the first world records with “home made” blades that did not look anything like his present Usser Cheetah’s - the best available.
They were hard, stiff, heavy and could snap in 2 like glass- Oscar lost a lot of skin in those day’s, but non of his vision!!
May 20th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I think Oscar is extraordinary. I have watched him run albeit on the TV after recording this years vpwc and last year’s I see a very noticable difference in the two years races. The times this year where faster than last year and had it not been raining the mind boggles as to what the times would have been had the weather been nice. The weather this years was worse than last.
Oscar is fast because of himself and not the blades. I think they are just a method disabled sprinters use to get them around the track. In the single amputees case they can only run as fast as the good leg will carry them. In Oscar’s case, as we are seeing, his speed is endless. He could probably run much faster than he is but wouldn’t he need brakes on the cheetahs to slow him down when needed? Oscar is also Brave, courageous and determined to show what he can do. I hope the IAAF see fit to let him. I say let Oscar run in the 2008 Olympics as he has worked very hard for the opportunity to get there and I am sure the .08 of a second he needs to qualify will be reached soon if not sooner? Determination is his middle name. He is also a great guy!
May 21st, 2007 at 5:41 pm
sorry I got it wrong its .80 of a second it was a typing mistake. Oscar is an incredible guy. I take it this has always been so.