The line between human ability and disability has been blurred with the discovery that prosthetic “Cheetah” legs don’t give sprinters an unfair boost.
Peter Weyand of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and colleagues measured the energy consumption of South African sprinter and double amputee Oscar Pistorius (right) as he ran on a laboratory treadmill. They found that Pistorius uses just as much energy as some other elite athletes running at the same speed. If his Cheetahs gave him an advantage, he would burn fewer calories. “Does he run cheaper than everyone else? No,” Weyand says.
The result prompted the Court…
