Restoring or enhancing athletic bodies
Oscar Pistorius and the threat to pure performance
pp. 237-251
in: Jan Tolleneer, Sigrid Sterckx, Pieter Bonte (eds), Athleticenhancement, human nature and ethics, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
The interface between the body and technology presents a perilous moment where the integrity of the former and the validity of the latter might be compromised. A body that succumbs to the temptation of illicit enhancement or is tainted by the presence of threatening technology typically has no place within sport where pure performance demands that uncontaminated participants strive to establish the limits of the human's physical capacity. This chapter examines the junction between nature and technology extant in the athletic body to determine whether technologically enhanced bodies disrupt mainstream conceptions of pure performance. The triadic relationship between sport, the body and performance is interrogated with reference to Oscar Pistorius, a liminal figure whose presence in mainstream sport has been considered a threat to the integrity of sports performance.