As it turns out because it’s a Bombers home game we’re in blackout territory, so no football game. In it’s place was E60 which I’m assuming is some sort of sports magazine type show. Anyway the first story was about a paralympic sprinter named Oscar Pistorius. He was a gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics and it turns out he might actually be good enough to compete with able bodied athletes except that the IAAF (the track governing body) has banned him because they say his prosthetics are considered technical aids and are therefore banned. The ban was over turned and he’s resumed full time training. At the moment he’s still a little short of making the Olympic standard in the 400m. I can’t help but think that having to fight the legal battle has probably hurt his qualifying efforts. For the record he’s also kind of cute. He's also only 21 so he might be able to qualify for the 2012 Olympics but that seems so far away and a lot can happen between now and then.
Oh and while I’m at it there is a South African swimmer Natalie Du Toit who will be competing in both the Olympics and the Paralympics. That’s pretty freaking awesome. It actually reminds me of another story that I heard during the 2006 winter Olympics about a Canadian Cross Country skier who had a degenerative eye condition and had started his career as a regular cross country skier but as his sight got worse he wasn’t allowed to compete with the able bodied athletes anymore.
If you want to read more about the sprinter’s story check out these links
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12492-0,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/sports/othersports/15runner.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3483741&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
1 comment:
Several knowledgeable insiders believe Natalie du Toit has an excellent shot at medaling in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim. You can vote for the gold medal favorites at www.10Kswimmer.com.
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