Next to genetic talent, years of consistent injury-free training and good nutrition, it appears that the difference between the winner and loser is Technology and Pharmacology.
I’ll skip the Pharmacology part for now, as that would take up an entire Blog.
As we see more and more world records fall on both able bodied Olympics and Paralympics, you have to ask yourself what percentage of the improvement is technology? Remember the Speedo LZR suits from the swimming events in Beijing?
In Track and Field, especially the sprints, we measure what we can measure. And that is the wind and altitude. Anything less than +2.0 m/s wind and 1000m of elevation doesn’t have an * asterisk.
But does it end there?
Some people claim the MondoTrack is producing faster than expected results (i.e. look at all the SB, PB and WR in the sprints, especially in the 4x100m relay). I’ll save the MondoTrack discussion for a series of articles at a later date.
Brazilian 200m sprinter Alan Oliveira
If you watched the 2012 London Paralympics, you probably know the story of Oscar Pistorius trying for the 100-200-400m trifecta.
But his 200m gold was “ruined” by Brazilian 200m sprinter Alan Oliveira who was 8 meters behind at the the 100m mark.
Oliveira won in 21.45 seconds, storming down the home straight to win by 0.07 seconds.
The controversy?
Oscar Pistorius claimed Alan Oliveira’s prosthetics were longer than normal.
Take a look at the photos below, and you can make your own assessment.
Photo credits (left): Adrian Dennis/AFP/GettyImages
There are longer but the rules are the rules. As far as I have watched and heard about the rules Alan Oliveria was within the rules and that is that. Considering the amount of controversy that has followed Oscar over the years I think he would understand about rules and be a display a little more sportsmanship. Would it have been as much of an issue if he had not been beaten. It is something that he needs to take up with the IPC. As for the apology I think he should not have bothered as it didn’t really seem like an apology.
In regards to the technology I think Oscar could have longer blades if he wanted to but then they may not be approved by the IAAF meaning that he would not be allowed to compete at abled bodied competitions (from what I have read). All other things being equal which they normally not then yes technology will have the biggest part to play and the individual with the best prosthetics is likely to have the advantage.