Pistorius - it's not fair, but let him compete

Do Pistorius' prosthesus give him an unnatural advantage over other athletes? Of course they do. Should he be banned from competing? Well, how would a field feel about his competing? I would suggest that he be allowed to compete, in the spirit of Sportsmanship, but in the case where he reaches the top 3 (and wins a medal), the 4th placed finisher be given a medal as well. In other words, Pistorius' participation ought to enhance and add to competitive nature of the sport, rather than prevent one other person from gaining glory.

Some athletes may not be happy with the distraction and complications involved, especially where a limited number of slots are available for a final. They would be completely justified, especially at high level events, from requesting that Pistorius stand down to allow them their place. I don't believe a blanket concession or ban is the answer. I think his competitors need to participate in the decision. This requires fairly high levels of administration, which brings us to the question: do we care enough about the individual athlete to want to put a lot of people through this? I hope we do. Consultation will have to be on a race-by-race basis. I'm not sure how many athletics bodies will be chuffed about the extra rigmarole involved in that.

Obviously it is inspiring to see a disabled athlete aspire to excel, but let's not kid ourselves that everyone is on the same playing field.

I did think about an analogy to Pistorius' carbon fibre blades, and there are many. There is the technology used in cycling timetrials and triathlons. But here everyone is free to experiment with materials. There is a big difference, for example, in a swimmer's performance when wearing a triathlon wetsuit and without. So, if I was doing a triathlon, and no one was allowed to wear a wetsuit in the swim leg, but an exception was made for a disabled athlete, would that bother me? No, I'd welcome the enthusiasm and guts, I'd welcome the participation aspect, but I'd feel differently if this guy kept winning.

Once again, I don't think these athletes should be banned. I think they should be allowed to measure themselves against able-bodied athletes, and I think this may be exciting to see. But when they achieve podium positions, an extra medal should be made available, rather than having a disabled athlete knock out some other competitor.

I believe allowing these athletes their place in sport inspires more than it detracts from the sport, and its constituents, and this ought to be the goal. Whatever happens, we're due to hear an answer soon.

Sport's Tribunal To Rule On Amputee Sprinter Oscar Pistorius' Petition In Two Weeks