We went to watch a coronation and instead saw a revolution. What a shame it briefly descended to bickering (Pistorius fumes after 200m loss, 3 September). The debate about leg length has a long history. Dennis Oehler, the great one-legged runner, complained bitterly about the long blades of Tony Volpentest, the no-legged runner who trounced all in Atlanta.
Artificial legs bend more than real legs, so a runner with two artificial legs can make up for having no calf muscle by pushing against the ground for longer. Is this an advantage over one-legged sprinters? Definitely – a balanced runner is a good runner. Is it an advantage over able-bodied athletes? The jury is out – but without a series of macabre experiments, we will probably never know. Nevertheless, it is a sign of how far the world has come that we even ask the question. And, whatever the outcome of the debate over leg length, for an athlete of Pistorius's character his reply on the track is the one that will count.
Matthew Juniper
(GB competitor in 200m T44, Atlanta Paralympics), Trinity College, Cambridge
