Tag: Peter Weyand

Science of Sport: Oscar Pistorius’ controversy continues to bubble

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date January 13, 2012

The popular blog The Science of Sport has posted a year-end piece on the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius, the South African vying to compete in the Olympics.

The blog article cites extensively the work of SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion. Controversy has swirled around Pistorius as the debate continues over the scientific advantage he enjoys as a result of the high-tech, carbon fiber artificial legs he relies on. Weyand helped lead a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability.

Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

Read the full blog post.

EXCERPT:

By Ross Tucker
The Science of Sport
[ … ] But 18 months later, an extra-ordinary announcement followed. It was made by Peter Weyand and Matthew Bundle, TWO of the group of six scientists in the Pistorius research team. They came out in November 2009 with the statement that “Pistorius enjoys a large advantage”, and that “we knew it all along”.

This remarkable statement was followed by a point-counterpoint debate in the Journal of Applied Physiology, which revealed a split among those six scientists. It transpired that on the very first day of testing, Weyand (the world’s leading authority on sprint mechanics) and Bundle noted that Pistorius’ mechanics were “off the charts”.

Specifically, his lighter carbon fiber prosthetic blades enabled him to accelerate his limbs so rapidly that he could do what no other runner could in terms of repositioning his limbs.

Weyand had previously established that a limit to sprinting, regardless of speed, was the ability to reposition the limbs, and Pistorius “broke” the limit considerably. That led Weyand to recognize the performance advantage. Weyand and Bundle describe this in their own words:

“Reduced limb repositioning times allow Mr. Pistorius to spend less time in the air between steps. Shorter aerial periods, in turn, substantially reduce how hard Mr. Pistorius must hit the ground during each stance period to lift and move his body forward into the next step.

In this sense, the level of sprinting athleticism required for Mr. Pistorius to achieve world class speeds is dramatically reduced compared to his intact limb competitors. Mr. Pistorius attains world-class sprinting speeds with the ground forces and foot-ground contact times of a slow and relatively uncompetitive runner. Mr. Pistorius’ intact-limb competitors, with natural limb weights and swing times, lack this option, and therefore must achieve their speeds via exclusively biological means. Mr. Pistorius, in contrast, achieves these speeds through the use of technology.”

You can read more about this discovery and the basis for the 12-second advantage they calculated (an overestimate in my opinion) in the detailed article on this site written in August.

Weyand and Bundle speak
The above statements come from a piece that was written by Weyand and Bundle in response to articles I wrote on this site in August. They contacted me to request a one-time post on The Science of Sport, and I was very happy to oblige. However, for various reasons, the posts didn’t happen here, but they were published on the SMU website. I would highly encourage you to read them – they are lucid, to the point, and they clear up many of the misconceptions that you’d have read in the popular media as a result of lies told by Pistorius, Hugh Herr and co.

Read the full blog post

SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

Tags Peter Weyand, Simmons School of Education & Human Development

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The Telegraph: The Pistorius problem – how South African blade runner’s artificial legs make him 10 seconds quicker

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date August 11, 2011

Australia’s The Telegraph newspaper quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion, in an Aug. 11 article “The Pistorius problem – how South African blade runner’s artificial legs make him 10 seconds quicker”

The Telegraph article examines the controversy surrounding double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius and his qualification for the 2012 London Olympics. What if the 24-year-old South African — the world’s only sprinter with no legs — comes out a winner? Will their be an outcry against Pistorius controversial carbon-fiber prosthetic legs that attach just below his knees?

Weyand is widely quoted in the press for his expertise on human speed. He led a team of scientists who are experts in biomechanics and physiology in conducting experiments on Oscar Pistorius and the mechanics of his racing ability. Pistorius has made headlines worldwide trying to qualify for races against runners with intact limbs, including the Olympics.

Weyand is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Mike Hurst
The Telegraph
When it comes to Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius, the athletics world remains split — science isn’t so indecisive.

Oscar Pistorius, that running paradox — a sprinter without legs — advanced one more step towards fulfilling his dream of competing in the Olympic Games when he was named in South Africa’s 26-member team this week to compete later this month at the world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea.

His official notification comes after he clocked 400m in 45.07sec last month in Italy to better the International Association of Athletics Federations’ tough qualifying standard of 45.25sec — a time no Australian has recorded this year.

In fact, at the previous world champs two years ago in Berlin, Trinidad’s Renny Quow won the bronze medal with 45.02. In a quiet season for the men’s 400m if Pistorius could replicate his 45.07 in consecutive rounds he could well end up on the medals podium.

But then what? Will there be an outcry from those able-bodied sprinters who could not run fast enough to beat Pistorius? Will they campaign to the IAAF against the Pistorius appliances — the carbon-fibre J-shaped blades he wears in place of his legs which were amputated below the knee before his first birthday?

What might the IAAF, the custodians of the major Olympic sport of track and field, do next? Would they dare try again to ban him from competing in London next year?

The IAAF have tried once and failed to ban the technology that enables Pistorius to engage in his flight of fancy to run in the Olympics.

Pistorius took the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2008. His lawyers cited the opinion of seven scientists (6 American and one French) that the evidentiary basis of the IAAF eligibility ban was not sound. The CAS primarily considered the research conducted on behalf of the IAAF by Professor Peter Bruggemann of Cologne sports university which was used to provide the rationale for the IAAF’s eligibility ban.

In fact both scientific parties found that Pistorius enjoys a big advantage over athletes with biological legs but crucially, in its own narrow terms of reference for the case, CAS questioned whether Prof Bruggemann’s findings adequately supported the IAAF claims and the eligibility ban.

The CAS ruled that the evidence the IAAF offered did not adequately support the eligibility ban on Pistorius and overturned it.

The IAAF could well have restated their case against Pistorius but with public opinion, including the support of many of his fellow sprinters, strongly in favour of the courageous and persistent Paralympian they decided not to go on with the matter.

The IAAF’s decision was at least partly taken in the belief that biology would settle the matter and Pistorius might not attain the tough selection time in the first place.

Two of the physiology professors whose research was sought by Pistorius’s legal team, Peter Weyand and Matthew Bundle, told The Daily Telegraph by email yesterday: “We both admire the inspiring performances of Oscar Pistorius.

“We greatly respect the dedication and persistence he has exhibited in his successful quest to qualify for the World Track and Field Championships and congratulate him on his historic accomplishment.

Read the full story.

SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

Tags Peter Weyand, Simmons School of Education & Human Development

Culture, Society & Family Health & Medicine Researcher news SMU In The News Technology

National Post: Five things: The trials and tribulations of Oscar ‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date August 11, 2011

Canada’s National Post newspaper quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion, in an Aug. 8 article “Five things: The trials and tribulations of Oscar ‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius”

The Post article examines the controversy surrounding double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Preparing now for the 2012 London Olympics, the 24-year-old South African once again is under the spotlight for his controversial carbon-fiber prosthetic legs that attach just below his knees.

Weyand is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

National Post
South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius was chosen to run in the 400 metres and 4x400m relay at the world athletics championships later this month. Here are five things to know before the big race in Daegu, South Korea.

1. His legs are better than your legs
Known as the ‘Blade Runner’ and the ‘Fastest man with no legs,’ Pistorius had both legs amputated below the knee for medical reasons when he was 11 months old.

He uses high-tech carbon-fibre blades in competition, with spikes on the forefoot for the track. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) began to monitor his races in the 2007 to analyze his technique and determine if he had an advantage.

“The company does make bionic feet that have hydraulics and are battery powered but this is a passive foot,” Pistorius told the Daily Telegraph in 2007. “That means that the output energy is not as much as the input energy so it definitely does not give me an unfair advantage.”

2. But they don’t come cheap
In a 2007 Wired feature on Pistorius’ attempt to qualify for the 2008 Olympics, the magazine says each leg costs between $15,000 (US) and $18,000 (US). It’s a small price to pay for an Olympic dream, considering the custom-made Cheetah Flex-Foot blades are made to look like human legs.

It also explains why Pistorius insists on taking the prosthetic legs in his carry-on luggage when he flies, especially after one incident in the United States. “I went to run in Atlanta and my legs ended up in Salt Lake City,” he tells the Telegraph.

3. He’s had trouble with the IAAF
Pistorius first competed against able-bodied athletes in 2007 but the IAAF then amended its rules to ban the use of “any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device.”

In the following year the world governing body said scientific research had shown Pistorius enjoyed an advantage over able-bodied athletes and banned him from competitions held under their rules.

However, the decision was overruled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, making Pistorius eligible for the 2008 Beijing although he was unable to qualify for the South African team, winning gold medals instead in the Paralympic 100, 200 and 400 meters.

4. And then there’s the ’10-second advantage’
The question of whether Mr. Pistorius’ artificial limbs artificially enhance his running speeds is a matter of scientific disagreement. Two researchers who studied Pistorius, Drs. Matthew Bundle and Peter Weyand, conclude that his artificial limbs enhance his sprint running performances by 15-30% over his intact limb competitors. Their findings were published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2009.

Read the full story.

SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools. For more information see www.smu.edu.

SMU has an uplink facility located on campus for live TV, radio, or online interviews. To speak with an SMU expert or book an SMU guest in the studio, call SMU News & Communications at 214-768-7650.

Tags Peter Weyand, Simmons School of Education & Human Development

Culture, Society & Family Health & Medicine Researcher news SMU In The News Technology

New York Times: As Debate Goes On, Amputee Will Break Barrier

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date August 9, 2011

The New York Times tapped the expertise of SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion, in an Aug. 8 article “As Debate Goes On, Amputee Will Break Barrier”

Journalist Juliet Macur examines the controversy surrounding double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Preparing now for the 2012 London Olympics, the 24-year-old South African once again is under the spotlight for his controversial carbon-fiber prosthetic legs that attach just below his knees.

Weyand is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Juliet Macur
The New York Times
The moment that the sprinter Oscar Pistorius had hoped for and trained for finally came Monday when he was named to South Africa’s team for the track and field world championships, which will make him the first amputee to compete at the event.

“If I manage to make it through the heats, I would be thrilled.” Oscar Pistorius, on qualifying for the world championships.

Pistorius, a four-time Paralympic champion, will race in the 400 meters and the 4×400 relay against men who have two natural legs, while he uses prosthetics. Last month, he ran fast enough to meet the Olympic qualifying standard, and now he will blaze a trail.

“This will be the highest-profile and most prestigious able-bodied event which I have ever competed in, and I will face the highest caliber of athletes from across the planet,” Pistorius, 24, said in a statement sent Monday by his agent, Peet van Zyl. “If I manage to make it through the heats, I would be thrilled.”

The road to the world championships could just lead to a berth in the 2012 London Games for Pistorius, who said he had never considered himself disabled and had never considered the world championships or Olympics out of his reach.

Even so, that road to making the team for this month’s world championships, which will begin Aug. 27 in Daegu, South Korea, has not been smooth for Pistorius — and his road to the Olympics may not be any smoother.

Born without his fibulas, the long bones that span from the knees to the ankles, Pistorius relies on carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs to propel him around the track in times comparable to some of the world’s top runners. And therein remains the question that has been the crux of a continuing debate: do those high-tech legs give him an unfair advantage?

In 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s governing body, thought so. It ruled that Pistorius was ineligible to compete in the worlds because his prosthetic legs made it easier for him to run than competitors with legs made of flesh and bone. But he appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and won in May 2008.

The court, though, provided no definitive answer to the underlying question of whether Pistorius was naturally fast or just fast because of his prosthetic legs. It said that the I.A.A.F. failed to meet its burden of proving that Pistorius’s legs provided him with an overall advantage or disadvantage.

To further complicate the issue, the court made it clear that the case could be reopened, saying that advances in technology and a different testing regime might prove that Pistorious’s legs did, in fact, give him an edge.

“There was a disagreement among the scientists, but I feel that the conclusion was overwhelming that he’s a lot faster with the legs than someone is without them,” said Peter Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University and one of seven scientists who in 2008 conducted physiological and biomechanical tests on Pistorius at Rice University.

Read the full story.

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ESPN: The Olympics loom for Oscar Pistorius

Post author By Margaret Allen
Post date August 5, 2011

Sports journalist Johnette Howard quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion, in an Aug. 5 article “The Olympics loom for Oscar Pistorius”

Howard examines the accomplishments of double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius and the controversy that has dogged his racing career. Preparing now for the 2012 London Olympics, the 24-year-old South African once again is under the spotlight for his controversial carbon-fiber prosthetic legs that attach just below his knees.

Weyand is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.

Read the full story.

EXCERPT:

By Johnette Howard
ESPN
You hope the murmuring and arguing that has already restarted now that Oscar Pistorius has done the remarkable, the extraordinary, the heretofore unfathomable will not drag him down between now and the 2012 London Olympics. Because what Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter, was able to do on a muggy night in Lignano, Italy, on July 19 is the sort of mind-blowing achievement that shouldn’t be unfairly derailed by this unsettled debate. He thought he had already navigated it once, but now it’s likely to trail the 24-year-old South African all the way to next year’s Olympic Summer Games. [ … ]

Perhaps the most contentious assertion, Peter Weyand, an associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at Southern Methodist University, and Matthew Bundle, now an assistant professor at the University of Montana, have argued that, among other things, Pistorius enjoys as much as a 10 to 12 second advantage in a 400-meter race using his prosthetic legs, for reasons Weyand says have to do with the frequency of how quickly Pistorius is able reposition his lightweight legs as he strides; the force he exerts; the longer length of time each of his prosthetic feet remains on the ground; and reduced ground force requirements to attain the same sprinting speeds.

“You can collect more data, but the answers about Oscar Pistorius are in, in my opinion,” Weyand said in a phone interview Tuesday. “He is able to run faster than many of his competitors even though he does not hit the ground as hard.”

To which Hugh Herr of MIT, another member of the Pistorius research group, retorts, “It baffles me why Weyand and Bundle continue to say that.”

Herr, an associate professor and director of MIT’s biomechatronics research group, argues, “You really have to have rigorous, peer-reviewed, published, carefully examined scientific evidence. [Weyand-Bundle’s argument] is simply a calculation, nearly a back-of-the-envelope calculation. To label it as a scientific study is very misleading. ??? Their calculation was never published in a peer-reviewed paper. It was in the point/counterpoint article, which was not rigorously peer-reviewed.”

So the debate about Pistorius lives on. But how much does it still matter?

Other than perhaps inhibiting his training — as the IAAF controversy and CAS fight did back in 2008, when he admitted it dragged him down emotionally (“It’s been completely on this kid’s back to prove everything himself so he can run,” Mullins says) — the griping needn’t stop him.

“As far as we are concerned, the CAS decision is final and the case is closed, as long as he continues to compete on the same prosthetic legs the CAS ruled on,” insisted Jeffrey Kessler, the New York-based attorney who took on Pistorius’ case on a pro bono basis and represents the National Basketball Player’s Association and NFL Players Association in their labor negotiations. “I spoke to Oscar on the phone the other day and I’ve committed to him that when he runs in London, I will be there. To me, this is about the rights of the disabled. He is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met in my life.”

Weyand has been careful to stress that he admires Pistorius, too, and finds the man and his accomplishments “absolutely extraordinary.” But Weyand considers himself just a scientist doing his job, and added that nothing he has asserted, “should in any way diminish what Oscar has done.”

Read the full story.

Tags Peter Weyand, Simmons School of Education & Human Development

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