ABSTRACT
In 2007, the International Amateur Athletics Federation altered its rules, prohibiting the use of various technical devices during competition. Oscar Pistorius, a South African double amputee Paralympian, was subsequently told that according to these regulations he could not compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. While the ruling was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, ultimately Pistorius failed to achieve the qualifying time. The case, however, illustrates how practices in the field of sport have the potential to challenge our understanding of what the body is and the way in which (elite) sport participation implicates and impacts upon the body in hitherto unimagined ways.
