The whole notion of preventing unfair technical advantages in the Olympics is outdated and stems from the fundamental attribution error [1]. The competition is

The whole notion of preventing unfair technical advantages in the Olympics is outdated and stems from the fundamental attribution error [1]. The competition is no longer primarily about the athlete but about the level of training they have access to and the size of a country's pool of healthy candidates to select from. Industrialized nations win the majority of medals [2] since they have a large healthy population to select from and they can afford to train those athletes and provide high quality equipment. Discriminating against Pistorius would be as bad as discriminating against an Olympian because they were rich enough to afford expensive coaches and equipment or banning Michael Phelps because he won the genetic lottery which gave him his body structure. It makes sense to ban certain performance enhancing methods such as illegal steroids because they have severely negative side effects, but the Olympics would be more fun if the rules were much looser. Let all the athletes have the best training and equipment their sponsors can afford. There is little difference between technology that reduces disadvantages such as lighter bikes or shoes and technology that enhances advantages like low drag swimsuits or cybernetic legs. Unless we want to genetically screen all our athletes to make sure they were not born with any advantage and force them to use the same training program and equipment, we should stop trying to compensates for advantages and disadvantages and just do whatever results in the best entertainment. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_ta...