Oscar Can Run!

On a couple of occasions I've blogged about Oscar Pistorius, the South African double-amputee sprinter who wanted to attempt to qualify for the Olympics this summer. Earlier this year, track and field's governing body determined that Pistorius could not compete in the Olympics, as the high-tech prosthetics he wears to run could be an unfair advantage. A panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport has overridden that decision, however, based on expert testimony that contradicted that finding. That would seem to be the right call:

Pistorius had flirted with able-bodied competition last spring running in a ‘B’ race at the Golden Gala meet in Rome and then at a Grand Prix meet in Sheffield, England. Even so, Pistorius had not met the Olympics’ automatic qualifying standard of 45.55 seconds in the 400 meters. But he likely will earn an invitation onto the South African 4x400 meter relay team which would take a squad of six sprinters to Beijing.

I hope he makes the team on pure speed. It would be interesting to see what kind of discussion his presence would generate in China later this year.