A Geeks Guide to Sports: Prosthetics

Oscar Pistorius - Too fast for the Olympics.

First off here are two links dealing with prosthetics in sports.

The serious one.

The funny one.

Mr. Pistorius' story might be old news to some of you, but just think for a minute we have created an artificial limb that is faster then what it replaced.

I actually think the Olympics should let him run, or at least he should host a race against the Olympics finalists. I'm sure there are those who will argue that the Olympics started out as a celebration of the human body. And as such allowing someone with an artificial limb is not in the original spirit of the games. To that I say did the original spirit include bribery and steroids? (At least their are no extra medical or ethical concerns down the line with a prosthetic.)

But really the real question I want to ask is what happens when prosthetic limbs start to encroach on other sports? Running is probably one of the more straight forward sports, what about a sport that requires a wide range of tasks to be preformed. The 2nd link makes a joke of an MMA fighter with metal hands. (No, not Jax from Mortal Kombat). What will happen to sports if there was a basketball player who was brilliant but isn't allowed into the NBA because his prosthetics give him a slight edge over other players? What if it's not so slight? Will people watch a league where the players aren't the creme of the crop just to keep the purity of  the game? What if people start to watch the prosthetic league (Yes I know it's a horrible name feel free to send in a better name for it)? Will athletes actually have to choose between cutting off a limb and playing at the highest levels of the games? Yes, I know it's all speculation, but it's an interesting turn of events. We have in a way made or legs obsolete at running, what comes next?

Any and all theories and comments are welcome. So what's you take?