If the IAAF caves, Oscar will not be the first disabled athlete to compete in the Olympics or at top-tier able-bodied events, but he could be the most significant.

At this year's table tennis world championships, for example, 2004 Paralympic champion Natalie Partyka of Poland played China's best despite having only one arm.

Over a century ago, American gymnast George Eyser stunned the world by competing at the 1904 Games in St Louis on a wooden leg. Being paraplegic also failed to stop Neroli Fairhall of New Zealand taking part in the archery competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

More recently, middle-distance sprinter Marla Runyan of the United States made headlines in Sydney in 2000 as the first legally blind athlete to ever enter the Olympics.

Athletics South Africa has been integrating disabled athletes into its top-tier sports competitions for the last four years and fully endorses Oscar's bid, said General Manager Linda Ferns.

"Whether disabled men can be at the Olympics and win a medal is not the issue here," said Yang Jinkui, the 44-year-old vice-president of the Chinese Paralympic Committee.

"The issue is how human beings can fix their 'disabled hearts,' get rid of discrimination and reach a state of equality of all men."