Olympics

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Not as fast, strong, or dedicated to running as Oscar Pistorius, I myself have always been a runner. Growing up chasing my siblings around the house, to participating in soccer and basketball as a young kid. One of the biggest questions tossed around during this summer’s 2012 Olympic games in London was whether or not to let amputee, Oscar Pistorius run in the 400m due to an aroused argument of whether he would have had an unfair advantage from his carbon-fiber blades.
After doing some research I came across two credible sources, taking opposite sides on this question. One from ESPN summer Olympics and one from Huffington posts, comparing and contrasting the pros and cons of both sides of this courageous story.
According to ESPN summer Olympics Oscar had every right to compete in the 2012 Olympics, which one might agree. While his selection to run in the 400m dash was likely, it was only a last minute surprise by South African sports officials that gave Pistorius the opportunity to run in his specialty event at the Olympic games. South Africans Olympic committee and national track federation decided to clear Pistorius for the 400m at the London Olympic games on his carbon-fiber blades.
On the contrary Huffington post brought up some reasonable statistics. Muscle tendon units are viscoelastic demonstrating both vicous and elastic properties when subjected to deformation. The more viscous a material may be, the harder it is to move. Carbon-fiber prosthetics act more like akin to something that is elastic, demonstrating faster recoil. In other words, when stretched or when force is applied it returns back to its original state much quicker than muscle.
In my opinion I believe Oscar Pistorius is hard working and dedicated. He battled his way through life and fought his way through the press and haters, and pulled out a great 2nd place during the preliminaries. He deserved every right to be there at the 2012 summer Olympics held in London.


http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/trackandfield/story/_/id/8129325/olympics-2012-south-african-double-amputee-oscar-pistorius-run-400m
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rami-hashish/oscar-pistorius-prosthetic-legs-advantage_b_1766417.html