Staggering news emerging from South Africa. Oscar Pistorius the 'Blade Runner' has been arrestedon suspicion of murder this morning at his home address after allegedly shooting his model girlfriend in the head and arm and killing her. A pistol was recovered at the scene. There has been some speculation this morning that the Sporting Icon and national hero may have mistaken his girlfriend for a burglar. South Africa is much troubled by crime, but it too premature to really have any firm idea of what happened. Pistorius will appear before a court this morning.
Further Update 17.2.13
A surprising amount of detail is leaking out about the events surrounding the death of Reeva Steenkamp. South African Police (SAPS) do not seem reticent in making their case (premeditated murder) to the media. It is now clear that the evidence does not support any proposition that Pistorius believed there was an intruder. We don't need to go into the evidential details here.
I have been waiting for the first suggestion that Pistorius' actions might be linked to steroid abuse. Tonight there were the first whispers. Of course there is no such evidence. However there are evident and well known side effects of such abuse and Pistorius was under the most unbelievable pressure to continue to improve. He hoped to reach the final of the able bodied 400m at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and was training hard for this year's able bodied World Championships. Pistorius was earning something like £5m fron his commercial deals with Nike etc. The stories of gun obsession and paranoia about security, even whilst living in a high security gated community, can only fuel such speculation. It is not surprising that some might attempt to make such a case , but of course there is nothing to prove any such thing. Pistorius of course, has never failed any drug test.
As for Nike, this is another PR disaster through their association with a sporting superstar on the back of Woods and Armstrong. Surely the linking of Pistorius with guns ('The bullet in the chamber' advert which has been swiftly withdrawn) was in poor taste and even tempting fate.
The Paralympics
The Paralympics ended today - it was quite simply a triumph.
There were a couple of controversies, but few moments of genuine discomfort. Emotions ran high occasionally and sometimes in the heat of the moment stuff got said - it was sport of the highest order.
I thought I would just consider one interesting aspect, the debate over the length of blades used in the athletic events.
After Oscar Pistorius was, perhaps surprisingly, beaten in the T44 200m final by Alan Oliveira of Brazil, he complained bitterly about his opponent's blades, suggesting that Oliveira had crucially and unfairly increased his stride length. It is right to say that he had also raised the issue in advance of the race. Nonetheless this was a side to Pistorius at odds with his public image as the pin up boy of both Paralympism and the Olympics.
So were Oliveira's blades too long as claimed? Simple answer 'no'. There is a complicated procedure used by the International Paralympic Committee in order to arrive at the maximum height that a competitor may stand in his blades. It involves measuring certain parts of the body which allow a calculation of what the true height of the athlete should be.
Do longer blades equate to improved performance? Again there is much debate on the subject, but interestingly this was the subject of Pistorius' appearance before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2007. Generally longer blades produce a faster finish, this is because longer blades store more 'elastic energy' permitting speed to be maintained by the athlete whilst less energy is dispersed. The downside is that the start of the race is slower and reaching top speed requires greater energy.
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| Striding Forward |
At CAS Pistorius was seeking to overturn the ban by the IAAF against his participation in able bodied events. IAAF scientists proved that at full speed he used less energy than able bodied athletes. This would clearly be unfair. However the ban was overturned because Pistorius showed that these arguments did not take account of his disadvantage in the early stages of the race and in achieving full speed. CAS concluded that there was insufficient evidence to show that he had an unfair advantage overall.
It is interesting to note that Oliveira took more strides (98 - 92) to cover the distance than Pistorius, a statisitic of itself which destroyed Oscar's complaints. Oliveira had a faster leg turnover than the South African.
In any event there is nothing to stop Oscar changing his blades for Paralympic events, provided they are within the recognised limits, but he could not use these new blades in able bodied competition because CAS only approved his participation using the particular blades which were the subject of the tests and the ruling. CAS was not giving Pistorius a general green light. It would be extremely difficult nonetheless for Pistorius or anybody else for that matter, to switch 'equipment' between different the types of competition.
The future may involve an ever more scientific approach to Paralympic running events, rather like Formula 1, the best equipment will probably prevail. This presents something of an ethical dilemma.
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