clipped from: www.iht.com   

Oscar Pistorius running the men's 400 during the Golden Gala IAAF Golden League at Olympic stadium in Rome last summer. (Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

Panel backs amputee sprinter's Olympic quest


Published: May 16, 2008

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who was barred from able-bodied competition in January, will be allowed to pursue his dream of qualifying for the Olympic Games after an unexpected decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The Court, an international panel which has final say over legal matters in sport, overturned the International Association of Athletics Federations' ban, ruling in effect that Pistorius' carbon fiber prosthetic blades do not give him an unfair advantage.