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Thanks to a new ruling today, double-amputee Oscar Pistorius can continue blazing a trail for disabled people… all the way to the Olympics.

If you’re not familiar with Oscar Pistorius, he’s a South African sprinter who had his legs amputated between the knees and ankles as a young child. Despite his setbacks, he competed in sports throughout his life and became a world-class athlete. Now he has more Paralympic gold medals than he knows what to do with, and he holds the world Paralympic records in the 100m, 200m, and 400m dashes.

Pistorius uses carbon-fiber blades in place of his feet, and some say this gives him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes.  An earlier ruling by a lower sports arbitration court banned him from competing against able-bodied athletes, but today’s ruling sets the sky as the limit for Pistorius.

As prosthetic technology gets better, I imagine we’ll see future rulings that set limitations for what equipment disabled athletes can use in order to keep the playing field as level as possible.  (Think of it as NASCAR meets track and field.)  For now, whatever your opinion on this historic ruling, I think we can all agree that it’s fantastic that prosthetics have come far enough to create this situation.

Childhood prodigies come and go throughout the media, however, these four children are the real deal. If they have not received professional offers yet, they surely will in the coming future. It is hard for children to stand out in team sports, but hard work and determination will get the attention of scouts and the media. These are the top child athletes of the world:

BASKETBALL and TRACK:

Jashaun Agosto is an 11 year old child that is simply unbelievable. Not only does he complete 200 push ups, 200 sit ups, and 150 squats every night before bed, but he also runs a sub 4:50 mile and practices basketball 4 hours a day, seven days a week. This 5th grader competes against older opponents and is completely self motivated. He is easily the youngest child prospect in the sport of basketball . . . any bets on when will Kentucky send him an offer?

TENNIS:

Jan Kristian Silva is a tennis pro and he is only 5 years old. His parents pay nearly $140,000 a year to send him to a French tennis complex where he strives to improve his game. At a whopping 4-foot tall and 60 pounds, this kid can slam and return serves with many adults. He can also play the net like a 6 footer.

FUTBOL:

Rhain Davis is a 9-year-old Australian “whiz kid” who has been snatched up by Manchester United. The child moved 11,000 miles to Britain to join the Red Devils Academy and compete in the beautiful game. There he excelled and caught the eyes of Man U, where they offered him a scholarship. Under the contract he will train with Manchester daily and cannot sign a professional contract until the age of 16 years.

GOLF:

Kyle Logrosso is more than your typical 5 year old boy. Shortly after birth, it was discovered that he had cancer in both eyes, requiring months of chemotherapy and his left eye to be removed. Since then Kyle has fell in love with the game of golf. Like many child prodigy golfers before his time (i.e. Tiger Woods), Kyle enjoys being in the spotlight and showcasing his skills. And get this, his best game in 9 holes is a 46 . . . how many adults can claim this in their golf game?