BLADE RUNNER: A pair of the prosthetic devices that Alena Grabowski tested in her University of Colorado Boulder labPATRICK CAMPBELL, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprinter dubbed the “Blade Runner,” made history in 2012 when he became the first double amputee to participate in the Olympics, running the 400-meter dash. Pistorius had been barred from the 2008 competition by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after researchers in Germany reported that his prosthetic limbs provided an advantage over the legs of an able-bodied athlete (Sport Technology, 1:220-27, 2008). However, the IAAF reversed its decision after a team of researchers in the U.S. conducted a follow-up study that incorporated several additional parameters and concluded that Pistorius’s artificial limbs, though mechanically different, were physiologically similar to biological ones (J Appl Physiol, 107:903-11, 2009).
Although the second study ultimately allowed Pistorius to compete in the Olympics, some ...
