I’ve been watching the 2012 Summer Olympics. The marvels of these athletes amazes me. The other night, I was amazed for a different reason. I noticed one of the sprinters for the 400m race looked a little odd. As I turned my full attention to the television, I realized the runner has “blades” for legs. The runner, Oscar Pistorius, ended up finishing second in the heat race.
After watching, I decided to do a little bit of research. I had no idea that a double-amputee would be running on state-of-the-art prosthetics in the Olympics. What I quickly learned is that his participation has been the subject of controversy and heated debate.
My view: As a medical device product development engineer, I was thrilled to see how medical device technology can help a double amputee not only walk but sprint competitively in an Olympics.