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.”
Continued…
