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Paralympics: The Games Where Bionic Athletes Reign
Posted by John Mahoney at 8:00 AM on September 13, 2008
Tech and the Olympics are a recipe for controversy. Before double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius (right) was finally approved to compete in the Olympics (he failed to qualify, barely), naysayers claimed his carbon-fibre Cheetah blade prostheses gave him an advantage over non-cyborg competitors. And Speedo's LZR suit has been decried for rendering meaningless any world records that came before. But that debate is dropped entirely for the Paralympic Games, which are currently going on in Beijing and as we see in today's Big Picture, is where the sports tech comes out in force.
Prosthethics tech is where some of our baddest engineers are working today, from Dean Kamen's Luke Skywalker arm to the Cheetah itself, which is one of the first prosthetic legs to allow near-natural sprinting. But beyond that, tech aids large and small are what helps level (and then raise) the playing field of the Paralympics. Whether it's super-aerodynamic sprinting wheelchairs as advanced and light as any Olympic road cycle, or simple mods to make things possible in sports where they wouldn't be for disabled athletes under normal circumstances.
More great pics as always over at: [Big Picture]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
qbrad
Posted 8:46 AM 13/9/08
@EBone: No, not at all. I second that one.
qbrad
Blinklink11
Posted 8:19 AM 13/9/08
[cache.boston.com] lol waterform
Blinklink11
EBone
Posted 8:18 AM 13/9/08
Am I bad that this reminds me of the SNL skit about the All-Drug Olympics in Columbia:
[www.hulu.com]
EBone
Blinklink11
Posted 8:15 AM 13/9/08
Lol they have a Portal olymics?
Blinklink11
dimadelux
Posted 8:15 AM 13/9/08
@m4ximusprim3:
Greece's Grigorios Polychronidis prepares to throw a ball during the Individual Boccia-3 semifinal match against South Korea's Jeong Ho-won at the Paralympic games in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008. Paralympic Boccia is open to players with cerebral palsy and other major physical disabilities
dimadelux
dambo29
Posted 8:11 AM 13/9/08
@m4ximusprim3: Yeah, then I can hear a guy actually wanting to be amputated just to get the edge over at the games!
dambo29
m4ximusprim3
Posted 8:06 AM 13/9/08
This is so freaking cool. I can't wait for the day when their kit starts getting so good that they start sprinting faster than their full bodied counterparts. I would definitely watch the bionic olympics.
By the way- what is the guy in the middle (with the head thing) doing?
m4ximusprim3
danger the pirate
Posted 9:07 AM 13/9/08
@dambo29: people have done stranger things just because they can. [www.bmezine.com]
this stuff is pretty cool, though. one of the few positive outcomes of our little "war" in iraq is that prosthetics have gotten a lot of attention and development.
danger the pirate
TBM-Fan
Posted 8:58 AM 13/9/08
you can say about paralymics what you want, but never forget how inventive the people are to do the things that "normal" persons only could
TBM-Fan
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Posted 8:53 AM 13/9/08
Damn, I'm just thinking of the strength it takes me to pull back my 65lb draw bow with two arms. Doing it with one is damn impressive. I wonder what kind of cam set up he is using.
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Jrsy
Posted 9:32 AM 13/9/08
So which one of these dudes is the Michael Phelps of the Borg-olympics?
Jrsy
lrbreckenripple
Posted 9:16 AM 13/9/08
Arguing on the internet is like racing at the special olympics.
lrbreckenripple
drakfyre
Posted 9:48 AM 13/9/08
@danger the pirate and @dambo29
Just FYI, the Adding and Subtracting article is an April fools joke, look at the date on the bottom of the page. Also, look here for "Adding and Subtracting":
[www.snopes.com]
And I know, Snopes ruins everything. :)
drakfyre
Technogen
Posted 9:39 AM 13/9/08
I'm not sure about you all but I know that once cybernetics out preform human body I'm going cybernetic. Then of course I have to worry about the damn ghost... [en.wikipedia.org]
Technogen
dambo29
Posted 9:38 AM 13/9/08
@danger the pirate: Fuck No! I refuse to believe that! And if it is true, the interviewer sucks! How did he not ask why they decided to cut this brother's arm off instead of the other?
H-o-l-y-S-h-i-t
dambo29
RiceBandit
Posted 10:11 AM 13/9/08
Oh this is getting good! This is actually cooler than the regular Olympics!
RiceBandit
dambo29
Posted 11:24 AM 13/9/08
@drakfyre: Thank you! Thank you! I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep!
dambo29
GadgetPlay
Posted 2:50 PM 13/9/08
@danger the pirate: "one of the few positive outcomes of our little "war" in iraq is that prosthetics have gotten a lot of attention and development."
And some of those prosthetics have gone to Iraqis (that had hands amputated by Saddam) that were liberated by our troops. I guess they would have been better off without us. Right.
GadgetPlay
two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake up the
Posted 9:20 PM 13/9/08
@EBone: Colombia. God when will people learn.
two cans tied together and thrown down the street to wake up the surrounding neighbors with a loud annoying noise
collegelemur
Posted 2:58 AM 14/9/08
@GadgetPlay: But it is true that each war we get in makes us better at something. In Vietnam and the Gukf War we improved battlefield and military hospitals. The Iraq war is all about prosthetics.
collegelemur
Pretolo
Posted 11:43 AM 14/9/08
I'll be the nay-sayer. Let them compete in their "terminator" olympics. I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it is apples to oranges; and thus, I think, the result of putting a legged person vs a carbon-fiber legged person is simply not representative of ANYTHING.
Pretolo
FinalValgas
Posted 1:07 AM 15/9/08
those guys look like they're in tremendous pain. especially the dude in the middle. jeesh
FinalValgas