Rehm eyes Rio

Markus Rehm's dreams of competing at the Olympic Games are still attainable following the publication of a report which concludes he gains no advantages from using a prosthetic limb.

The 27-year-old, born in Göppingen near Stuttgart, holds the world record - one which he had broken two times previously - in the long jump and won gold at the 2012 Paralympics Games in London. For four years running, he claimed gold in Germany's own domestic athletic championships.

But Rehm's dream has been to follow in the footsteps of Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games. Although Pistorius missed out on the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the South African completed the 400 meter race and the 4x400 relay during the London Olympics in 2012.

Despite winning the 2014 German championship, Rehm was prevented from competing at the European championships under current rules. However, the report, conducted by the German Sport University in Cologne, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tokyo and the University of Colorado, could not determine whether the prosthetics Rehm uses "give him an overall advantage in the long jump."

"We found shortcomings in athletes with lower leg amputations during startup, we could clearly assign the prosthesis," said Wolfgang Potthast, a professor at the Sport University in Cologne. "In motion techniques we realized due to improved efficiency leap but advantages. These are totally different movement techniques that stand are now not clearly outweighed up to today."

Expensive effort

After an accident on a family holiday at the age of 14, Rehm lost the lower half of his right-leg. According to the BBC, Rehm has paid close to 300,000 euros to prove his prosthetics don't give him an unfair edge over his opponents. Even if the German doesn't make the Olympic Games, he'd still like to compete against able-bodied athletes without being ranked.

"That has happened in other competitions," he told the "Daily Mail" newspaper in February. "It had a separate podium. That was fine. The champion was the champion. If it is a Diamond League meeting, they get the prize money for winning. I think it is only the more vain competitors who could possibly object to such a scenario.

"I'm happy to win my medals in the Paralympics. But, yes, I would like to take part in the Olympics too."