Why can't disabled athletes compete at the Olympics? | Alena Grabowski | TEDxMileHigh

TL;DR

Despite concerns about prosthetic legs giving athletes an unfair advantage, scientific research shows that they do not provide any significant benefits in terms of acceleration, maximum speed, biomechanics, effort required to run, or rate of fatigue.

Transcript

Blake leaper is a 33-year-old us athlete who was born without the bones in his lower legs called fibulas he had to have both legs amputated below the knees and has been wearing prosthesis like these since he's been about 9 months old and learning to walk using prosthesis is incredibly difficult because they can be really uncomfortable and hard to B... Read More

Key Insights

• ☠️ Athletes with prosthetic legs do not have an advantage in terms of acceleration, maximum speed, biomechanics, effort required to run, or rate of fatigue compared to non-amputee athletes.
• 🦿 Personal biases and assumptions about prosthetic legs and their effects on performance continue to influence decisions made by sports governing bodies.
• 🦿 Scientific research and data can help challenge biases and assumptions and advocate for the inclusion of athletes with prosthetic legs in competitive sports.
• 🧗 Prostheses have the potential to outperform biological limbs in the future, but current evidence suggests that we are not there yet.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why was Blake Leaper not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games despite qualifying with his fast 400m time?

World Athletics, the governing body of the Olympics, determined that Blake's prosthetic legs gave him an unfair advantage, although scientific research shows that prostheses do not enhance performance.

Q: How do prosthetic legs affect an athlete's acceleration out of the starting blocks?

Research has shown that athletes with two prosthetic legs have 23% slower acceleration compared to non-amputee athletes, indicating a disadvantage in this aspect.

Q: Do athletes with prosthetic legs have slower maximum straightaway speeds compared to athletes with biological legs?

Yes, studies have found that athletes with prosthetic legs have slower maximum straightaway speeds, with the use of a running prosthesis decreasing the force applied to the ground and slowing limb repositioning at maximum speeds.

Q: Do taller athletes have an unfair advantage in sprint events compared to shorter athletes?

Taller athletes may have longer step lengths, but they also have slower step frequencies due to the heavier weight of longer legs. Therefore, taller athletes may not necessarily have an advantage in maximum speed compared to shorter athletes.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Blake Leaper, a Paralympic sprinter with prosthetic legs, faced controversy when his fast 400m time qualified him for the Olympic Games, but he was not allowed to compete due to concerns about unfair advantage.

• Scientists and biomechanics experts conducted research comparing athletes with prosthetic legs to elite non-amputee sprinters and found that prostheses do not enhance performance in various metrics such as acceleration, maximum speed, biomechanics, effort required to run, and rate of fatigue.

• Despite this scientific evidence, biases and assumptions about prosthetic legs and the athletes who use them still exist in sports governing bodies, leading to unfair exclusions.