Oscar Pistorius is in the headlines as a South African amputee athlete who aspires to compete in the the Olympics. All well and good. The controversy is over his prosthetic legs, which he uses to run the 400 meter foot race. He recently won an appeal to give it a shot, although his best time is still slighter over Olympic qualifying standards. Pistorius' abilities aside, the story raised a discussion (as in the comments at Neatorama) about the "slippery slope" of allowing prosthetic legs or any mechanical athletic enhancement.

OK, but did you know about the other South African amputee athlete who has already qualified for Beijing? Last month, Natalie Du Toit made the Olympic team in the new 10K Open Water Swimming event. Du Toit lost the lower half of her left leg seven years ago in a traffic accident. She is the first amputee ever to qualify for the summer Olympic games.

First off, this event involves swimming over six miles in the open ocean. There are waves, sharks, and some nasty pollution in your way. Second, Du Toit doesn't use any sort of prosthetic when she's swimming. That avoids the controversy over Pistorius, but she has to work twice as hard to get as far. Third, I would write a lot more, but I think I've pulled a muscle in my index finger while typing. I have to go lie down for a while.