Pistorius Decision Within Weeks

South African bilateral sprinter Oscar Pistorius should know within three weeks if he can compete at the Beijing Olympics, said an official for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on April 30. "We have been asked to deliver a decision as soon as possible," CAS Secretary General Mathieu Reeb told Reuters on the last day of Pistorius's two-day hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland. "Normally the decision will be rendered in a few days after the hearing, I don't know exactly when, but I would say probably in two or three weeks maximum."

Pistorius, 21, runs with carbon fiber Cheetah Flex-Feet running prostheses. He has appealed to CAS against a ruling by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) barring him from competing at the August Games. The IAAF ruled in January that Pistorius could not compete against able-bodied athletes after a specially commissioned study found that the running prostheses offered him a significant advantage.

It's the first time that the CAS has had to deal with an appeal by a disabled athlete wishing to participate in competition with able-bodied athletes, Reeb said.

Pistorius' lawyers at the trial made their case using evidence of tests carried out by experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, that his prosthetic legs do not give him an unfair advantage, according to PA Sport. The IAAF will respond with results evaluated from scientific tests Pistorius undertook at the German Sport University of Cologne, Germany, last November. Professor Peter Bruggemann, who supervised those tests, provided documentation the IAAF believes offers "overwhelming scientific evidence" that Pistorius' prostheses classify as "technical aids."