By Justin Palmer
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Oscar Pistorius began his T44 100
metres title defence with a smooth heat win on Wednesday but his
complaints about rivals allegedly using longer blades will not
be investigated further unless evidence is provided, the
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.
Moments after a shock loss to Brazil’s Alan Oliveira on
Sunday, his first 200m defeat in nine years, South African
Pistorius used a post-race interview to question the legitimacy
of his defeat.
Pistorius suggested that his opponent’s prosthetics were too
long which had artificially lengthened his stride, giving him an
unfair advantage.
His comments sparked controversy and the South African,
known as the “Blade Runner”, later expressed regret over the
timing of his outburst but the sprinter stuck to his complaint
that IPC rules allowed athletes to have an artificially long
stride length.
IPC communications director Craig Spence said the body had
received a formal letter from the CEO of the South African
Paralympic Committee requesting an urgent investigation into
claims that athletes were using different size blades for
semi-finals and finals and in different events.
Spence said they had found no evidence and it was
“difficult for us to investigate any further”.
“We met with coaches of the relevant athletes in the Village
yesterday – I have to say there was quite a look of shock on the
coaches’ faces when we put this to them,” Spence said on
Wednesday.
“We will look at the measurements from the call room today,
but we won’t continue investigating unless the South Africans
come to us with evidence.”
Pistorius eased into Thursday’s final by winning his 100
heat in 11.18 seconds.
World-record holder Jonnie Peacock of Britain set the
fastest time with a heat one victory in 11.08, ahead of American
Jerome Singleton and 200 gold medallist Oliveira, whose time was
good enough for a final place.
Singleton, the Beijing silver medallist, appeared to back
Pistorius on Wednesday, saying it was time to “re-evaluate the
formula”.
“All I know is that there is a maximum height. I think we
need to come together and re-evaluate the formula and have an
idea of the exact height for an athlete to run in or maybe have
a variation in height of one cm, so you know you’re racing the
same athlete in all competitions,” he said.
“As time changes science changes too, so we just have to
make sure that it is fair to all competitors. Right now it’s
like (comparing) apples to oranges, not apples to apples.”
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
