Re: Olympic Games
This was my response to my friend earlier today:
[QUOTE]When I first heard about the runners participation I thought it was great. When I saw him run alone I thought it was amazing. When I saw him get 2nd place last night it seemed a bit unfair. If he would have come in last I'm not sure if I would see it the same way or not. When I saw him come in second place in his heat or prelim or whatever it's called, I was pretty blown away, and confused because I had never seen that before. Usually amputees or "physically challenged" athletes compete together I thought because they simply can't compete on the same level as normal athletes.
I like your analogy with the pitcher though. I pitched for several years growing up and I absolutely think that would be unfair. But then again pitching has a lot to do with accuracy. But from what you are explaining, running has a lot do with accuracy too, regarding how the runners foot hits the ground. And tendons and things.
The more I think about it though, the more I feel like running without legs from the knee down at that speed in particular would be incredibly difficult. This runner has happened to perfect it because it's all he's known.
I guess it's a tough question to answer because we will never know what it's like to run with prosthetics. And he is sort of an anomaly because he's been training his whole life that way.[/QUOTE]