I think part of the skepticism is that it's far more likely that these carbon fiber legs are advantageous making a naturally fast runner become world caliber as

I think part of the skepticism is that it's far more likely that these carbon fiber legs are advantageous making a naturally fast runner become world caliber as opposed to the fastest man in the world having a great disadvantage causing him to only become world caliber. There are scientists on both sides of the issue as well, so all we have is opinions. I'm no expert but my guess is that if Usain Bolt had been wearing these and training his whole life he would not only hold the world record, he would have destroyed it and would not count. Edit: BUT, there's no question in my mind that they are not "equal" to a human legs. There are clear advantages and disadvantages of them. I refuse to believe that the designers who were trying to make them as fast as possible just happened to create legs that were 100% equivalent to human legs. It's IMO not fair for Oscar or other Olympians but it's not his fault he has no one else to compete against.