Oscar+Pistorius+and+2012+Olympics

__**Oscar Pistorius and the 2012 Olympics by Lucas Meier**__

He is known as "blade runner". he has broken world records for running. what people find his greatest weakness may very well be his greatest strength. his name is Oscar Pistorius, the man who runs with no legs. Oscar was born with a rare mutation, he had no tibia bone in either of his legs, this caused him to lose the part of his legs below the knee before the age of one. he played may sports when he was young such as water polo and rugby. when he was 14 he suffered a serious rugby injury, when he was in rehab for his knee he was introduced to running. he has been running ever since. since then he has broken countless world records and brought home even more medals for his home country of south Africa. his career had been very smooth until he had tried out for the 2012 Olympic games. the debate was brought up whether or not he could participate in the games because of the advantages his carbon fiber legs could bring to his times. the two sides to the argument are that he cannot participate because carbon fiber doesn't fatigue and has a greater energy transfer then normal muscles. the other sides though is that the rules state that any artificial limbs cannot transform or have any parts interchanged. Oscar states " they have been the same ever since i got them in 2004". one of the more recent things though in this case is that he did not make qualifying times for the Olympics missing it by a few tenths of a second.

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__**Oscar Pistorius timeline**__ **1896:** modern Olympics started **1960:** Paralympics started **1986**: Oscar was born **1987**: Oscar lost both of his legs **2003**: suffered seroius rugby injury **2004**: was introduced to track (running) **2011:** did time trials to be in the London Olympic games

**__Understanding questions__**
 * 1) Do you think its fair for someone to have artificial limbs in normal Olympics?
 * 2) If you were on the board on whether or not he should participate what would you vote yes or no and why?
 * 3) How would you feel if you were Oscar in his position?