Saturday Commentary: Return of the Blade Runner

No, Harrison Ford is not reprising his Blade Runner role as Rick Deckard. I am talking about a different blade runner, named Oscar Pistorius. This South African, double-amputee was born without a fibulae in each his legs. In order to run, he uses a blade like invention attached to what is left of his lower leg.

On January 14, the International Association of Athletics Federation ruled Pistorius ineligible to compete against "able-bodied" athletes because he would have an advantage against them. They believed that he used less energy running than runners with both of their legs. Their proof was a study done by a German professor named Gert Peter-Brueggerman. Pistorius appealed this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sports. The CAS ruled in favor of Pistorius, claiming that the IAAF had failed to fully prove their case, citing an MIT study done by professor Hugh M. Herr that disagreed with Peter-Bueggerman's study.

However, being eligible to run in the Olympics does not mean that he necessarily will. Pistorius needs to improve his 400m time by nearly a second to qualify for the Olympics. If this does not occur, one possibility being floated around is that he could be named an alternate for the relay team. This would at least give him the possibility of participating in the Olympics.

The thing that is significant about this ruling, is that finally, a ruling body helps an athlete that has not done anything wrong. Pistorius did not ask to have his legs removed. Life would probably be easier for him if he had both of his legs. For the IAAF to say that he had an advantage over other runners was foolish and short-sighted. They saw something that was different, and took the easy way out. Maintaining status quo usually is the easy way out for a ruling body. The NCAA has been guilty of this on too many occasions, but that is a topic for another day. Issues are not always black and white, and fairness lies somewhere in the gray area. When the gray area is ignored, so is justice. Luckily, the CAS was there to favor the athlete, instead of status quo.

Information for this article was taken from the MSNBC.com article on the CAS ruling.