Labeling and Deviance at the 2011 Track and Field World Championships: Oscar Pistorius

So I'm blogging over at SociologyInFocus.com now as well. Track & Field afficionados are well aware of South African 400m sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who made it to the semi-finals in this week's World Championships. While he had an outside shot, he failed to make the finals.

At SIF I argue that as Pistorius has become faster, his ascribed statuses have shifted, and are now labeled deviant by some due to his "blade runner" prosthetic legs.

Check it out here: "(Dis)Advantaged? The Changing Statuses of Oscar Pistorius"

Watch the video below for Pistorius's qualifying sprint at 45.07 seconds:



And the quarter-finals of this year's champ's, clocking 45.39:



Photo via The Guardian.


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