EDITORIALS

Pistorius ineligible for the Olympic Games: the right decision

Giuseppe Lippi, Camilla Mattiuzzi

Sezione di Chimica Clinica, Universitè di Verona, Verona, Italy

Correspondence to:
Professor G Lippi, Sezione di Chimica Clinica, Universitè degli Studi di Verona, Ospedale Policlinico G B Rossi, Piazzale Scuro, 10, 37134 Verona, Italy; giuseppe.lippi@univr.it; ulippi@tin.it

Accepted 22 January 2008

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

All his life, Oscar Pistorius has had to battle adversity. Born 21 years ago in South Africa without fibulas, he was only 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee. What he did not lack, however, was tenacity and five years ago he began running competitively using prosthetic racing blades (J-shaped carbon-fibre "Cheetah" extensions, see fig 1). Nine months later he won the 200 metres at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.

View larger version (112K):   Figure 1 Oscar Pistorius.

 

Oscar, world record holder in the 100, 200 and 400 m Paralympic events, had a dream—to compete in the Beijing Olympics by qualifying for South Africa. In mid-January, however, his dream was dashed when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) outlawed his prosthetic racing blades; the International Olympic Committee upheld that decision.

The IAAF decision was based on the statement of German Professor Gert-Peter Brueggemann, who conducted tests on the prosthetic . . . [Full text of this article]

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• Lea, R. D. (2009). Ethical Considerations of Biotechnologies Used for Performance Enhancement. JBJS 91: 2048-2054 [Full Text]  
• Lippi, G., Banfi, G., Favaloro, E. J., Rittweger, J., Maffulli, N. (2008). Updates on improvement of human athletic performance: focus on world records in athletics. Br Med Bull 87: 7-15 [Abstract] [Full Text]