Cameron Conaway wonders: How can a guy who pushed the boundaries of moral fairness so far that they became unfair to others possibly complain about unfairness?
We all know South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius as the “Blade Runner,” although thousands of other competitors essentially do the same thing. He’s been catapulted to global superstardom not so much because he’s considered “the fastest man on no legs,” there have been others before him, but because he’s put up one heck of a fight, all in the name of fairness, to compete against what are called “able-bodied” athletes, that is, athletes who are not viewed as disabled by conventionally-accepted standards.
I’ve long sat on the fence regarding the debates he has started. On one hand he has used his fame and “disadvantage” to inspire athletes and people from all walks of life. Surely thousands of households and gyms have posters of him with his awesome quotes like, “You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.” For all the great motivational things he’s done, I believe he’s at a physical advantage. He doesn’t have to worry about calf cramps or Achilles tendon injuries, and he essentially only has to train half of his legs while being lighter and likely more aerodynamic. While the debate will go on and we likely won’t find a true scientific answer that accounts for every variable, the debate changed yesterday, at least for a moment.
Pistorius lost by 0.07 seconds to Brazil’s Alan Oliveira in an event in which the world and he himself felt he was invincible – the 200 meter sprint. The loss was sure to make waves, but in the post-race interview Oscar Pistorius took it all to a whole new level:
“He’s never run a 21 second-race and I don’t think he’s a 21-second athlete,” he said of Oliveira. “I’ve never lost a 200-meter race in my career.” He mind as well have said, “The only way I can ever lose is if someone cheats.”
In addition to making comments about the unfair length of Oliveira’s blades, he also said: “We aren’t racing a fair race.” According to the Washington Post, the International Paralympic Committee said: “There is a rule in place regarding the length of the blades, which is determined by a formula based on the height and dynamics of the athlete. All athletes were measured today prior to competition by a classifier and all were approved for competition.”
The social media world lit up about all of this with many believing what CNN’s Piers Morgan captured in this Tweet:
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/242363365891133440″]
My first thought was: How can a guy who pushed the boundaries of moral fairness so far that they became unfair to others possibly complain now about unfairness? He complained for rule changes and now complains that he lost? What gives?
Eventually I came to see that this isn’t at all about Oscar Pistorius. It’s about how fairness, a value the Olympics and especially the Paralympics tries desperately to create, is impossible. In able-bodied events, every athlete is at some advantage or disadvantage – all are somehow abled or disabled. Some variables, such as limb length, nutrient metabolism and fast-twitch fiber percentage are mostly genetic, while others are situational, such as how one athlete may have the finances to train full-time while another does not. It’s impossible to entirely nullify human unfairness, and though to some extent it’s a noble and worthwhile goal, this concept must also be applied to the technology-enhanced athletes competing in the Paralympics.
Sport without discrepancy is not sport. Discrepancies allow for underdogs and comeback stories and dominate reigns. If we categorized each event according to all our minute differences every athlete in every event would cross the line at the exact same time. We don’t want that. We want clear winners and losers and we want fairness. And for this we enter a suspension of disbelief.
UPDATE: SI.com quotes an apology from Pistorius regarding his statements about Oliveira:
Paralympic officials insisted Monday that Oliveira did not break the rules and that the blades had been approved, and Pistorius said he should have waited before launching his outburst.
“I would never want to detract from another athlete’s moment of triumph and I want to apologize for the timing of my comments,” the South African said in a statement.
What do you think of Pistorius’ statements about fairness? How about his apology?
Oscar has been pushing this argument for a long time now, not just at the 2012 Olympics. He was just frustrated and blurted it out, that’s why he apologized for the timing. We all make mistakes and I’m sure that anyone else in his position would have done the same. Oliveira has since come out and said that he had made his blades longer and he was running faster than he normally does. He was still below regulation but they aren’t allowed make themselves taller than they would be if they had their lower legs. Not even going to bother… Read more »
To be honest he did lodge a complaint weeks ahead into the matter. In addition, there really needs to be standards and rules regarding switching blade so close to the competition date.
He also said, “… I’ve never seen a guy come back from eight metres on the 100-metre mark and overtake me on the finish.”
A valid point since the concept of a guy so far behind powering up to over take someone so far ahead (in short distance running terms) is hard to believe. I wonder if it’s ever happened in the regular Olympics?
Cameron, Im glad you enjoyed my post. JB, during the Olympics a month back, exathletes talked about how some runners are better curve runners, some are better on the straight. To my eyes, it looked like Alan is a much better runner in straight lines than going round a bend, hence the sudden acceleration on the straight. In the link I posted[i think it was in that link], others write that Oscar himself in other races has overtaken runners when he was that far back. One possible reason for such swings, is that the event is still maturing in terms… Read more »
One possible reason for such swings, is that the event is still maturing in terms of times, training and amount of competitors
or it could even be a feature of running on blades
Did anyone else notice that Oliveira blasted the nitro in the final leg (excuse the pun) of the race? I was more shocked and surprised at his acceleration out of no where at such a pace to take the win. Hmm just sayin’
Within years, if we don’t all starve to death or drown, the disabled may very well bypass most “whole body”? “original parts”? athletes. And then the morality of competition is going to be hilarious. Remember at the onset of the modern Olympics era- working class men were banned as they had an advantage over effete gentlemen. Working with tools yesterday, reproducing historic moldings primarily with 250 year old technology driven by a 55 yr old body listening to this http://www.studio360.org/2012/aug/31/becoming-bionic-man/ about the future of prosthetics was a really nice head game. When is Tommy John surgery cheating? I’m sure I… Read more »
J.a. – I loved your response as well. I didn’t know about the “working class” Olympic comment you made, but could certainly see it being the case. You ask some good questions and got me to think more on Wodjan Shaherkani’s participation in the London 2012 Games. If you recall, she made the big splash about wanting to wear her hijab during the judo competition. It all was quite ridiculous – she had barely a few years training, was only a blue belt (the only non black belt in history to compete in the Olympics). After all the news coverage… Read more »
“I would never want to detract from another athlete’s moment of triumph and I want to apologize for the timing of my comments,” the South African said in a statement. Oscar is only apologising for the timing, not the substance of his complaint. He still believes he was cheated lolol. Now the governing authority is reportedly going to have a meeting with Oscar? Why, is Oscar really the power? It seems something is only fair if Oscar approves it Oscar is really whining lol, i guess it is his dark side. I thought Oscar said Alan was taller than he.… Read more »
Jameseq,
Absolutely brilliant response. I actually read it twice through and followed the link you provided as well. Thanks for joining and adding so much to my piece!
~Cameron