Prosthetics for Six Million Dollar Men

It may seem surprising, but it's absolutely true: you can wear prosthetics and run faster than you could with your own two legs! Not just any old prosthetics, though, but top-of-the-line ultra-modern streamlined stuff that cost eighteen thousand dollars - each. We really can make him better, stronger, faster. We have the technology.

Such is the case with famed South African runner Oscar Pistorius, a world-class 400-meter specialist who also happens to be a double amputee below the knees. He wears custom-made prostheses called Cheetahs, and after much debate around his impressive competition in able bodied events, it was scientifically determined that they help him so much that he was banned from competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The facts are startling: his prostheses have been found to return energy three times more than a human ankle for a superior boost that never fades, another distinct advantage. Prosthetics, after all, never tire out, giving stead performance stride after stride. Still another improvement over nature is the reduced loss of energy involved when using prostheses - only just over nine percent versus almost forty-one and a half percent! All these facts are related to the much stiffer nature of a prosthetic. Being stiffer also means that less vertical oscillation is produced.

Then there is the matter of weight. A professional runner's leg alone can weigh up to twenty pounds (that is, the lower leg, as opposed to the whole limb), whereas each of the two Cheetahs worn by Pistorius weighs just over two pounds apiece. And it means that a runner like Pistorius uses a quarter less oxygen than his competitors: no fatiguing, less weight, more energy return, much less energy loss. The decision barring Pistorius from the Olympics was ultimately rescinded, though he failed to make the qualifying time by .7 seconds. He was not selected to be among the initial four of the South African team, which instead was comprised of four other runners all with times just slightly better than Pistorius'. However, given the reversal of the decision forbidding him to compete in the Olympics, it is expected that he will represent South Africa in London, 2012.

And Pistorius is just one example. Sarah Will and Cato Zahl Pedersen are both multiple gold medal Paralympians neither of who are able to use their legs. In spite of Will's paralysis below the waste during a skiing accident and Pedersen's missing legs, amputated during childhood, both of them excel in the skiing events to a degree on par with many able-bodied athletes.

As the 21st Century continues to unfold, it is certain that technological improvements will keep pushing against the definitions of fair competition until perhaps one day the very foundations of sport will take on a character which we today would barely recognize. All hail the brave new world!