Prosthetic Legs Given the Official OK

An international court ruled on Friday that South African Oscar Pistorius can once again return to the track. A sprinter, hoping to even make the Beijing Olympics, Pistorius has had to fight through more than your average athlete though. Miles and miles of red tape, bad scientific reporting, and, oh yeah, he’s an amputee. The 21-year-old is known as “the fastest man on no legs” and “Blade Runner”, referring to the prosthetic limbs that look like a pair of blades, known as “Cheetah Flex-Foot”. The carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs were what put him in trouble though, when the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAFF) banned him from competing. The IAFF’s theory was that his prosthetic limbs gave him an added advantage over other athletes, and he has had to subsequently spend the past 6 months in court, fighting this decision, rather than training.