Oscar "blade runner"

[Ann]

Was Oscar (a thoroughly likeable athlete) right to protest about the length of his opponents blades after he was pipped to the post in the 200m final tonight? Was it bad sportsmanship or was he just bitterly disappointed as he had a valid point?

[HowardKennitby]

F1 rears its ugly head.

[MASS1961]

He was out of order, the Brazilians blades were within the guidelines/rules and he was also a lot slower than in his semi final. Yes he was disappointed but he was beaten fairly.

[Ann]

I totally agree Mass, but still felt very sorry for him .........

[Brinjal]

As long as the Brazillian's blades were in order then he has no right to complain. Disappointment is part and parcel of sport. Cant win all the time.

[albaqwerty]

Apparently he has apologised for his outburst.

[ummmm]

He presumed he was going to win.

[joggerjayne]

Wasn't that the 200?

Maybe he could Wear longer blades for the 400?

[emmie]

within the rules it would seem, and hasn't he stolen a march on other athletes previously due his super duper blades. Must admit he is a joy to watch.

[Ann]

Oscar has issued a statement this morning apologising for the "timing of his comments" I think that means he still thinks there should be an investigation by the Olympic committee into the length of the blades allowed. Wonder if he will change his for the 400m? although I suppose you have to get used to them first .........

[daffy654]

It's just sour grapes.

I see the French are complaining about our 'superior wheels' again, in the main Olympics it was our bike wheels, now it is our wheelchairs.

[Kerosene]

Sour grapes on his part - a sore loser.

[emmie]

wonder if he will, or perhaps he and his team were caught unawares, it's entirely feasible that the other athletes team discovered an advantage and took it. But as i said you still have to run the race, it's not just the equipment that gives you the advantage but positive mental attitude, and Oscar has that in abundance.

[Brinjal]

I believe the length of the blades are determined by the height of the runner so that he is given th corret height to balance the rest of the body so a shorte bodied runner will have shorter blades.

[BlueToffee]

Sour grapes, reminds me a little of Mary Decker's rant after she ran into the back of Zola Budd and fell over. Always someone else's fault but their own

[Bazile]

//Sour grapes, reminds me a little of Mary Decker's rant after she ran into the back of Zola Budd and fell over. Always someone else's fault but their own //

//...she ran into the back of Zola Budd and fell over...//

I like the way you describe that particular event

[joeluke]

Sour grapes, bad loser......just like Jody Cundy when he spat his dummy out cos the officials wouldn't let him re-race when he fouled up his start

[rowanwitch]

apparently he could have longer blades for the paralympics (8cm longer) but had trained on the shorter ones for the Olympics as they had set the rules slightly differently. So he has lost out as a result of his ambition to run with the able bodied athletes as he didn't have time to scale up to the longer blades allowed

[munchie63]

As he needed to wear shorter blades for the Olympics and had spent time training in the build up using those, he stuck with them for the Paralympics.
Kind of his own doing for competing in both I guess.
His other argument was about the blades giving his rival a longer stride-length, but the stats show his stride was actually longer than the winners.

Think it was perhaps frustration coming out, from someone who's trained very hard and is used to winning. I hope he has backed down a bit as he's been such a good role model