Technology has been at the forefront of advancements in sports performance, leading to improvements in equipment design, uniforms, footwear, running surfaces, and stadiums. Any enhancements must still comply with the rules of the sport. In track and field, athletes are not allowed to use additional mechanical assistance. A notable example involves disabled athletes who use prosthetics. When disabled athletes compete alongside able-bodied counterparts at event as the Olympic games, they must demonstrate that their prosthetics do not provide an unfair advantage.
Athletes
In 2012, South African sprinter and amputee Oscar Pistorius became the first athlete to compete in the Olympics wearing high-tech blades. Leading up to his participation, there were concerns about whether these blades gave him an unfair advantage. He underwent numerous investigations and was eventually permitted to compete. However, future athletes using more advanced blades may face stricter regulations.
Medical, hi- tech engineering
His prosthetics were developed by medical engineer Van Phillips, who incorporated Flex-Foot, Inc., in 1984. In 2000, he sold the company to Össur, which now (in 2012) manufactures the blades. They are designed to store kinetic energy like a spring, allowing the wearer to jump and run effectively.
In 2012, in the 400-metre race, Pistorius took second place in the first heat of five runners, finishing with a time of 45.44 seconds (his best time that season) to advance to the semi-finals on August 5. He ran in the second semi-final, where he finished eighth and last with a time of 46.54 seconds.
The darkest valentine’s day
On February 14, 2013, Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, paralegal and model Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home. He claimed he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in the bathroom. He was arrested and charged with murder. At his trial the following year, Pistorius was found not guilty of murder but guilty of culpable homicide. He received a five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide and a concurrent three-year suspended sentence for a separate reckless endangerment conviction, both in October 2014.
Pistorius was temporarily released on house arrest in October 2015 while the case was presented on appeal to a panel at the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, which overturned the culpable homicide verdict and convicted him of murder. In July 2016, Judge Thokozile Masipa extended Pistorius’s sentence to six years. On appeal by the state for a longer prison sentence, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased the prison term to a total of 15 years less time served. Pistorius was released on parole on January 5, 2024, after serving a total of 8.5 years in prison, in addition to 7 months of house arrest.
Sources: Wikipedia, Topendsports.com