Sky News called at the weekend to ask if I would give my views on Oscar Pistorius competing with able-bodied counterparts at the current World Athletics Championships and possibly next year's London Olympics.

I readily obliged, endorsing the doubts expressed in my Independent on Sunday column about the validity of his presence running on manufactured legs.

I found myself arguing with a pleasant chap from Manchester who manufactures the contentious blades similar to those used by Pistorius.

Subsequently, I have been engulfed by a storm of emails of Hurricane Irene proportions.

Some were supportive of my opinion, but most were not. They ranged from reasoned argument to near hysteria, suggesting there might be an athletics division of the more anarchic elements of the Animal Rights group.

One from someone with a distinctly South African-sounding moniker even likened me to Colonel Gaddafi.

Well, am sorry if I offended those who believe Pistorius should be an Olympian but I am by no means alone in being uneasy about his presence in Daegu - even more so should he qualify for London's Olympics.


Even Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, doyenne of Paralympians, says the South African risks undermining the equality that the Paralympic Movement has worked to achieve. "If Oscar makes the Olympics then his event shouldn't be run at the Paralympics because the Paralympics should never be a 'B' final," she says.

She also fears that the Paralympics, exactly a year away this week, might become an afterthought. "We have to put things in perspective and not let this become the Oscar show." Quite.

I am pleased Pistorius, who I have met and interviewed and found extremely engaging, completed his South Korean odyssey on his carbon fibre "Cheetah" feet without mishap to himself, or others.

He made his point, as well as a bit of history in qualifying for the 400 metre semis, where he finished last. But significantly, he was told he would have to run the 4x400 metres relay in the lane-restricted first leg so as not to endanger other runners.

His debut in Daegu leaves more questions than answers. Do the blades the double amputee wears affixed to the stumps his legs give him an added advantage over others? We still don't know, but it is interesting that he is the only 400m runner in the world who accelerates between 200 and 300m.

This surely can only be due to his machinery strapped to his limbs.

Pistorius needed a ruling from CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) to compete against able-bodied athletes. Now two of the scientists who supported his case for overturning the original IAAF ban have changed their minds and say he enjoys a substantial benefit.

Would the sport be so accommodating if he was a long jumper, high jumper or triple jumper, where those custom-built prosthetic blades surely would give him an unfair advantage with their "bounce" - as eventually, with technological advances, they may well do on the track. Think about it.


And would those able-bodied rivals who patted him on the back and said "Well done" have reacted in quite the same way had he actually beaten them?

I know there are many in sport - including some members of the IAAF and IOC - who feel deep disquiet but know theirs would not be a popular view to express publicly in these politically correct times.

But among former athletes, Michael Johnson and Roger Black have spoken of their concerns, Johnson pointing out that one advantage Pistorius may have is that he is not subject to lower leg injuries - pulled calf muscles or snapped Achilles in training or competition that can hamper able-bodied athletes.

Black makes this valid point: "What happens if he runs 44.3sec and wins an Olympic medal? I don't think it will happen because, while he is capable of running fast one-off races, it is a different thing to do it three days in a row.

"But we are talking about people's livelihoods here. When Pistorius runs, we don't know if we are watching a level playing field, and the faster he runs, the more people will believe he has an advantage."

In July, he took half a second off his personal best to run 45.07, making him 18th fastest 400m metres runner in the world. Who is to say he could not take of another half-second-or more - between now and next August when he hopes to run in the Olympics.

Pistorius is a natural-born athlete and sadly we will never know if he had the ability to run as fast on his own legs as he does on blades.

My Sky adversary suggested that by using the blades Pistorius only compensates for his physical disadvantage in order to have parity, and compete on equal terms with other athletes.

OK, does this mean that in the name of equality women should be allowed to compensate for their physical disadvantages by taking the male hormone testosterone so they can compete against men in track and field as some doubtless would wish to do?

Who is to say in this day and age they could not go to court and argue successfully that is their "human right" to be allowed to do so?

Do we really want to turn athletics into a version of Formula One with boffins and their technology being more important than the athlete?

One of my email correspondents suggested that Pistorius - and others who use similar prosthetic devices - should be allowed to compete unilaterally but their results not recorded.

It is an interesting thought but one with which able-bodied athletes at whose expense they are included in the team may not agree. Alternatively, I suppose their results could have the same asterisk that follows a wind-assisted record. But instead of wa it would be ta (technology-assisted).


There is no doubt that Pistorius deserves all the applause and every accolade going for his incredible triumph of human will, endeavour and determination, not to mention sheer guts.

But his rightful place surely is the Paralympics alongside such other admirable Paralympians like Britain's own high-achieving superstars, David Weir and Ellie Simmonds, the terrorist bomb blast victim Martine Wright, now a top sitting volleyball player and the only world number one tennis player we have had in a lifetime, 50-year-old Peter Norfolk, the wheelchair wizard aka the Quadfather.

All, like Pistorius, have wonderfully uplifting stories and will provide magical, inspirational moments. Just as Pistorius has.

So by all means, give the Blade Runner an Oscar, but not an Olympic medal.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire