Paralympics 200m record holder Pistorius suffers bitter defeat

London, England, United Kingdom (4E Sports) – World record holder Oscar Pistorius suffered a bitter defeat to Brazil’s Alan Oliviera in the final of the 200-meter event of the Paralympic Games.

The Brazilian sped past Pistorius in the final 20 meters to finish the race in 21.45 seconds, with the South African coming in second at 21.52.

After the defeat, Pistorious criticized the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for allowing Oliviera to compete despite having longer artificial legs or popularly known as blades.

“We are not running in a fair race here,” Pistorius said. “I’m not taking away from Alan’s performance but I can’t compete with Alan’s stride length.”

“The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has its regulations and its regulations mean that some athletes can make themselves unbelievably high – his knee heights are four inches higher than they should be,” Pistorius added.

The IPC shrugged off Pistorius’ claim, saying all blades conformed to their strict regulations.

“There is a rule in place regarding the length of the blades which is determined by a formula based on the height and dynamics of the athlete. All athletes were measured today prior to competition by a classifier and all were approved for competition,” an IPC spokesman said.

“The length of my blades is all right, I went through all the procedures with the referees. Once I come inside the track it’s because it’s all been cleared up and I believe Pistorius also knows that,” Oliviera said.

But Pistorius stood by his claim, saying competitors are not running a fair race with IPC not adhering to its own regulations.

“You saw how far he came back. We aren’t racing a fair race. I gave it my best. We’ve tried to address the issue with them in the weeks up to this and it’s just been falling on deaf ears,” Pistorius said.

In 2008, Pistorius was banned from competing in able-bodied events by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which ruled that his prosthetic limbs gave him an unfair advantage, but the ban was overturned later that year, paving the way for his participation in the London Olympics.

Pistorius is also slated to compete in the 100-meter, 400-meter and 4×100-meter events.

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