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Double amputee makes 400m semis

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FlabLoser

Redshirt
Aug 20, 2006
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Guy is running on spring blades. not sure how I feel about an Olympian running with mechanical assistance.

But I admire the hell out of that guy's achievement. All but nobody would try running with their legs chopped off.
 
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Faustdog

All-Conference
Jun 4, 2007
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FlabLoser said:
Guy is running on spring blades. not sure how I feel about an Olympian running with mechanical assistance.

But I admire the hell out of that guy's achievement. All but nobody would try running with their legs chopped off.
Click to expand...
This is basically how I feel about it. You have to admire they guy, but he is doing something completely different than the others that have trained their whole lives for this.
 
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shotgunDawg

Redshirt
Nov 13, 2011
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I am actually friends with a lady that manages a company that makes prosthetic running blades, and had a conversation with her about this a few days ago. Her opinion was that, while she really admires them, the human speed record will likely be broken by someone wearing these prosthetic blades. The reason for this is that the human body, for the most part without drugs, has been maximized. However, she said that with the technology, alloys, and spring effects that they are using in these blades, someday they are going to easily surpass what the human body is capable of. Therefore, I don't think it is huge problem in this olympics, but 4 or 8 years from now, they may have a huge problem and need a different division or race for people wearing these blades. One more thing, she said that people who wear only one blade and have one of their legs will never be a problem because they are limited to abilities of the human body. The people wearing 2 blades are the ones that will break all the records.
 
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Johnson85

Redshirt
Nov 22, 2009
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to compare a guy running on prosthetics v. a guy running on two legs. It's awesome that a guy that a guy can sprint on prosthetics, and I'm assuming the guy must be a worldclass athlete to compete in the olympics on prosthetics, but the guy has prosthetics doing things that otherwise would be done by muscles. It may be that the work the prosthetics do isn't as much as the work most olympic runners get out of the lower leg muscles, and the guy can only compete because he's that much better of an athlete. Or it may be that the guy gets more work out of the prosthetics than most olympic runners get out of their lower leg muscles, and the guy actually would not be an olympic quality runner. It's a good thing that we've gotten so good at prosthetics that this is even a question, anad it makes for an awesome story, but it's not exactly unreasonable for people that have been training their whole life to see who is the fastest to be a little miffed to find out that the competition now allows some people to use mechanical aids.
 
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AssEndDawg

Freshman
Aug 1, 2007
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He tried to get in the Olympics 8 years ago because they were afraid it gave him a competitive advantage. He spent the next 4 years being tested over, and over, and over again and they proved definitively that the prosthetics did not give him any advantage over a normal runner. These were detail tests looki g at the power output and speed compared to oth athletes. He was cleared for Olympic competition in Bejing but he was unable to make the team. He has been running in world competitions since then and this year made the team.

According to everyone who knows about these things the running blades don't help him run better/faster than he would with legs.
 
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DAWG61

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Feb 26, 2008
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and the rest of everyday since then he's been at a disadvantage. He might have an advantage during the race but the rest of every single day he lives he's at a disadvantage in everything else. Good for him. I hope he wins gold.
 
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