ONE IRON MAN

The next time you feel like it's tough and you don't know how you're going to make it through another day at work, or whatever, listen to the story of Scott Johnson. His lungs didn't work and he was about to die. Resigned to it. Then they put someone else's lungs in him. Now he does triathlons. Like the little girl with cystic fibrosis in Australia in the story, I've added Scott Johnson to my list of favorite athletes. This is worth a listen.

MORE ON OSCAR PISTORIUS

This is a good blog - The Science of Sports. Above is their take on Pistorius. The link to the main page of the blog is here:

http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/

OSCAR PISTORIUS UPDATE

Abled, disabled or ultra-abled? That's the question about Oscar Pistorius. The South African sprinter's back in the news again as he pursues a ruling on being able to run against guys with legs. The story above is the NYT's excellent look at the question from back in May. There's a British update from yesterday here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article2903673.ece
Not sure where I come down. Some people are just born with unfair advantages - Indurain and Lance Armstrong aren't normal humans - they have some genetic screw up that makes them superhuman. Same for Yao Ming - abnormally tall. Unfair? Not really.
This guy was born without regular legs and what he's got are prosthetics. Not really that much different from cyclists who are born with super VO2 max, and then capitalize on that by having the better bike than the other guy.
OK maybe not - his legs are metal and springy. But it's an interesting question.

UM, WEIRD, BUT AWESOME

Old ladies playing hoops. Cool.

NOW, THIS IS A SPORTS HERO

Dara Torres, getting older but swimming faster. Nice profile in The New York Times.

NYC MARATHON

A run in the park compared to living in Sudan