Pistorius cries foul at Paralympics loss

[n2doc]

A month after his groundbreaking Olympic debut, Oscar Pistorius was reeling from a stunning upset Sunday in the London Paralympics.

The "Blade Runner" had never been beaten over 200 meters until Brazilian sprinter Alan Oliveira came storming down the home straight to win by 0.07 of a second and dethrone the icon of the Paralympics.

Pistorius later accused Oliveira of bending the rules.

Having won his own legal battle to compete wearing carbon-fiber blades alongside able-bodied rivals, Pistorius suggested that Oliveira ran with longer prosthetics than should be allowed.

Oliveira won in 21.45 seconds after overtaking Pistorius at the line at Olympic Stadium in front of a capacity 80,000-strong crowd.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Pistorius-cries-foul-at-Paralympics-loss-3835615.php

[intaglio]

1. He has actually walked this back

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19462059

In a statement, he said: "That was Alan's moment and I would like to put on record the respect I have for him.

"I want to apologise for the timing of my comments but I do believe there is an issue here."

[Logical]

2. Wow, not classy. What a disappointment. n-t

[chelsea0011]

3. So if he is complaining about the length of the blade

giving a speed advantage to his competitor, doesn't that negate his comments that the blades give him no advantage and should be able to run in the past Olympics? You can't have it both ways.

[joeybee12]

4. Could be sour grapes...then again, if Olivera is that fast

wouldn't he have made the Olympics also? Or are the rules for length of carbon fiber blades different for the Olympics?

[KamaAina]

5. Brazil may have had a better team

Pistorius didn't even qualify for SA's team individually, but was picked for the relay team.

And there goes my argument that his appearance in the "real" Olympics should pave the way for adaptive sports to be part of the main Games, rather than a segregated "Paralympics" that gets about 90 minutes of coverage from NBC. Think about it. Is there a "Boston Parathon" held three weeks later? No. There's a wheelchair division of the actual event.

[joeybee12]

6. No, he was in an individual event...

It might have been the 400, not the 200...still, even if he has a point, he should have been gracious...people only remember the whining.

[KamaAina]

8. Oh, right

he bombed out in the semifinals, finishing last in his heat.

[rocktivity]

7. The argument could be made that since he has competed in the Olympics

Pistorius shouldn't be able to compete in the Paralympics any longer!


rocktivity

[KamaAina]

9. The argument could also be made that adaptive sports are now mainstream enough

that they should be included in the main Olympic Games, with the winners getting actual Olympic medals.