The article "The Disabled Athlete Has an Unfair Advantage", by Amby Burfoot, is a poorly written, poorly researched article that needs accurate supporting facts and impartial. The article is about Oscar Pistorius, a double below-the-knee amputee who competed but failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics after a lengthy court case. (Robinson) This poorly written article has merit at the opinion level, however, the author seemed as if it were his first time writing for a school newspaper. The facts used in the article seem as if they were researched by asking someone who knows, someone who knows someone who is an amputee. Writing with this apparent ignorance and recklessness can only lead to a wider gap between the two sides of the issue. Author Amby Burfoot is a professional editor and winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon; he states his argument like an older person who is afraid of change. The facts are unsupported, the ignorant selection of words and, at times, the off-color tone is the wrong way to try to argue what might be considered by some to be a sensitive topic. The fact that women and men are already classified into separate categories for events, and that there are Paralympics in which amputees can compete, is completely lost on the author who spends the article misrepresenting that spring stumps are a cheat because "Pistorius doesn't need to train harder and qualify for the Beijing Olympics, he just needs a better set of equipment." (Burfoot) All athletes use equipment of some kind to give them some sort of advantage or to be on par with the rest of the pack. Mr Burfoot states that "Pistorius doesn't need to train harder to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, he just needs to be... middle of paper... on the track they are unlucky. Being a former Boston Marathon winner, Mr. Burfoot must be a running expert, that being said, having a sister with an amputation and winning a marathon does not make you an amputation running expert Works Cited Burfoot, Amby “The disabled athlete has an unfair advantage.” Footloose: Amby Burfoot's Notes from the Road (June 24, 2007). Rpt. in The Olympics. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. Detroit: Greenhaven Press able-bodied runners?" Newsday [Melville, NY] July 15, 2007. General OneFile. Web."Long Jump." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web.Robinson, Joshua. "Prosthetics Gave Runner Unfair Edge, the report says." New York Times November 19, 2009: B13(L). Gale Opposing views in context. Net.