Fairness in Sports

            In my opinion, I do think that adaptive technology should be allowed in sports. I believe that one of the biggest parts of sports as a whole is being a part of a community or team. Creating an environment of inclusivity would involve every kind of athlete to participate. If athletes needs to have adaptive technology in order to participate in a sport, they should be able to participate in that sport. 

Adaptive technology allows for an increase of participation for athletes with a disability. There are already multiple different categories for the Paralympic athletes in order to create fair competition depending on the type of disability the athlete may have. Check out the different category classifications here: https://www.paralympic.org/athletics/classification

Therefore, I believe they could create other categories to create ways to avoid having unfair competitions. However allowing adaptive technology would require every athlete to have access to the same adaptive technology as other athletes around the world.

In order to make the use of adaptive technology fair, all athletes would have to have the opportunity to use the same technology as the other athletes. Accessibility to adaptive technology causes problems in disadvantaged nations who cannot afford the technology. If athletes can have the technology they need to train readily available, it would be unfair for other athletes that cannot do the same. On the other hand, I think it would be unfair to stop athletes from competing if they do have the option to use technology to participate. 

Another common question that is asked when talking about adaptive technology in sports, is whether or not athletes that use adaptive technology, such as the running blade, should be allowed to compete in abled bodied sporting events. 

When trying to decide my own personal opinion on this topic, I found myself stumped. Initially, I was confused by the question because using the running blades does not seem like an advantage. Having to use prosthetic legs in order to walk and run would seem more like a disadvantage, yet people argue that it has its advantages. Some athletes go as far to say that the running blades make the runners lighter which allows them to run faster. Athletes that use the running blades and adaptive technology are merely trying to compete in the sports in which they love. 

One particular athlete that has dealt with a lot of controversy about his competition in Olympic sports is Oscar Pistorius. Oscar utilizes running blades in order to compete in track, but he does not race in the Paralympics. His entire career however has been surrounded with the controversy of fairness of running blades. In an interview, Oscar has discussed the fact that he is only there to compete, not worry what other people think. Being an athlete already comes with many pressures to begin with. On top of the pressures, athletes are always looking for a competition. Oscar mentions that it’s not that he is not willing to participate in the Paralympics or other disabled sports, but rather he is looking for other competitors that will put up a good challenge. 

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa runs in the men's 200-meter event at the Paralympic World Cup in May. Some observers have suggested Pistorius receives an unfair advantage from his carbon-fiber "blade" legs. Michael Steele/Getty Images