Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Blade Runner

  1. #1
    Champion Lonzy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Posts
    1,969
    vCash
    5000000

    Blade Runner

    Why the 'Blade Runner' is back on track

    10:00 20 May 2008 by Ewen Callaway

    Update 30 August 2011: Oscar Pistorius didn't qualify for the final of the 400m at the Daegu track in South Korea but he made history in competing with able-bodied athletes. He is still facing the same charges that his blades give him an advantage

    On Friday, an international court ruled that amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius doesn't get a boost from his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs - called Cheetahs.

    After 2 days of testimony from a team of sports scientists who conducted extensive testing on Pistorius and his Cheetahs, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a previous ruling that had kept the South African off the track.

    The decision means Pistorius can now compete against able-bodied runners and perhaps in the Beijing Olympics this summer.

    New Scientist takes a closer look at the science surrounding the decision.

    Do the prosthetic legs give Pistorius an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners?

    Probably not, says Peter Weyand, a biomechanist at Rice University in Houston who led the testing. His team found that Pistorius burns just as much energy as other elite athletes. If the Cheetahs gave Pistorius an advantage, he would burn fewer calories while performing at the same level as other athletes.

    To find out, Weyland's team measured how much oxygen Pistorius consumed as he ran at a moderate pace on a laboratory treadmill.

    They found that although he used oxygen more efficiently than many elite runners, he wasn't off the charts, and many distance runners do better. "Does he run cheaper than everyone else? The answer is no," Weyand says.

    The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAFF) also based their ban on the odd method of pacing Pistorius uses. Most 400-metre sprinters run the first half of the race faster than the second, while Pistorius is just the opposite - starting slow and gaining speed as the race goes on. "He can run a good 100 metres, a better 200 metres, and an even better 400 metres," Weyand says.

    The IAFF assumed that his pacing meant he got an advantage from the Cheetahs as the race progressed, but treadmill tests showed that eventually Pistorius too loses speed. His prosthetic legs actually slow his starts.

    See a video of amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius in action during tests (Video courtesy of Rice University)

    How did the IAFF get the science wrong?

    The IAFF tested Pistorius and his prosthetics legs in the fall, but Weyand's team says they over-interpreted the results.

    One claim - that Pistorius runs 25% more efficiently than able-bodied runners - simply isn't true, says Hugh Herr, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, who presented Pistorius's case.

    That figure was based on an analysis of Pistorius sprinting on a treadmill at 9 metres per second. At that speed, a runner must produce some energy without oxygen, or anaerobically. The problem was that IAFF used a unreliable test to measure the anaeorobic energy that Pistorius burned while sprinting, says Herr.

    Do his prosthetic legs return more energy than human legs?

    There's no way to know, says Weyland. The IAFF had claimed that the carbon-fibre Cheetahs returned six times more energy than a human ankle. "The blade is a really simple mechanical device, but a biological one is a lot more complicated," he says. Dozens of muscles and tendons interact with every step, so it's impossible to assess the mechanics at a single joint, says Weyland. "There are too many unknowns."

    What's next?
    For Pistorius, the ruling means that he can now race in sanctioned events against able-bodied runners. But it's unclear whether he will race in the Beijing Olympics. "The poor guy's been fighting this for six months, instead of training," Weyland says.

    Weyland and Herr's team plans to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal. As the Cheetahs can be flexed and folded to gauge their mechanical properties in ways that human legs can't, "it's a great way for us to test our ideas about running", Weyland says.

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-on-track.html

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "Believe in the best, think your best, study your best, have a goal for your best, never be satisfied with less than your best, try your best, and in the long run things will turn out for the best."

  2. #2
    Champion Lonzy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Posts
    1,969
    vCash
    5000000
    Thought this was an iteresting read ...

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "Believe in the best, think your best, study your best, have a goal for your best, never be satisfied with less than your best, try your best, and in the long run things will turn out for the best."

  3. #3
    Legend Contributor
    Moderator
    Happy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    JB O'Reilly's
    Posts
    8,172
    vCash
    5000000
    well he came last in his heat so he obviously wasn't at too much of an advantage. I have no problem with him running against able bodied people ... not to put too finer point on it, why are there questions about his lower "false" legs, when runners can have body suits and shoes specifically designed to make them faster?

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.

  4. #4
    Immortal Contributor The InnFORCEr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    West Leederville
    Posts
    16,871
    vCash
    3102000
    like the one in your avatar??

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?

    Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!

    Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!

  5. #5
    Legend Contributor
    Moderator
    Happy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    JB O'Reilly's
    Posts
    8,172
    vCash
    5000000
    not sure, can't see her shoes

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.

  6. #6
    Immortal Contributor
    Moderator
    Burgs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Country WA
    Posts
    22,644
    vCash
    334000
    Maybe he was a REAALLY shit runner to start with???

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "Bloody oath we did!"

    Nathan Sharpe, Legend.

  7. #7
    Veteran beige's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    4,515
    vCash
    5000000
    Quote Originally Posted by Burgs View Post
    Maybe he was a REAALLY shit runner to start with???
    Well by definition really

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  8. #8
    Immortal Contributor
    Moderator
    Burgs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Country WA
    Posts
    22,644
    vCash
    334000
    When he had legs

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    "Bloody oath we did!"

    Nathan Sharpe, Legend.

  9. #9
    Veteran beige's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    4,515
    vCash
    5000000
    Oh.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

  10. #10
    Veteran Sheikh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    4,894
    vCash
    28858136
    I can see Tanni Grey-Thompson's point about him, though. She reckon he devalues the Paralympics to be the games for people who aren't good enough to enter the real Olympics.

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!

Similar Threads

  1. McCabe the standout runner so far this season
    By Burgs in forum ACT Brumbies
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 19-03-11, 09:31
  2. Comp to trial new laws
    By Burgs in forum Super Rugby
    Replies: 35
    Last Post: 18-10-07, 18:59

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •