The German company, who recently joined Sainsbury's in becoming a Paralympic-only sponsor of London 2012, are the official Prosthetic, Orthotic and Wheelchair Technical Services Provider for the Paralympics, and will supply the athletes with immediate repairs for orthoses, prosthetics and wheelchairs during the Games.

So advanced is the technology used by the world leading company, it has been termed "techno-doping" whereby athletes, such as South African blade-runner Oscar Pistorius, have been accused of having an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes due to the high standard of the prosthetics.

Pistorius, the four-time Paralympic champion, was actually banned from competing against able bodied athletes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in January 2008 after his prosthetics were said to give him an unfair advantage, before the decision was reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport later that year.

Pfuhl admits the issue is a complex one but states athletes such as Pistorius should be allowed to compete against able bodied athletes and at the Olympics as long as they do not have an unfair advantage which, in reality, he feels they never will.

"We have had this discussion on 'techno-doping' many times in the past," Pfuhl told insideworldparasport.

"It is a complex area but I don't we will get to the stage where Paralympians have more of an advantage than Olympians due to technology.

"There will still be the situation where a Paralympian has to run with an artificial leg on and that will always be a disadvantage because you don't have the natural feeling in that leg.

"What we provide is a technical replacement of the natural limb and that is why I don't think it is going to get to the stage where a disabled athlete has an advantage over an able bodied athlete.

"But in some cases, when you get a very strong athlete like Oscar Pistorius who can compete against able bodied athletes with the help of technology, that is a good thing.



"As long as there is no advantage created by the medical aid, why shouldn't a Paralympian be able to compete against an Olympian?

"The issue creates perhaps more questions than answers but if you have the technology to level the playing field, that is only a good thing.

"We would like to close that gap between Paralympians and Olympians even if it may never be fully equal."

Otto Bock, a worldwide partner of the International Paralympic Committee, will provide a crucial service for almost all of the athletes that compete at the London 2012 Paralympics.

During the Games, Otto Bock will set up and manage repair centres at the three Paralympic Villages in Stratford at the Olympic Park, in Weymouth for the sailing and in Eton Dorney for the adaptive rowing.

They will also create and manage smaller repair centres around other competition venues and mobile units at selected competition venues.

Otto Bock became the second Paralympic-only sponsor following Sainsbury's earlier this month but Pfuhl revealed the company has no plans to become Olympic sponsors any time soon.

"It was always a focus on Paralympic sponsorship rather than Olympic sponsorship for us," he said.

"The Paralympics is a natural fit for us in terms of what we do, what we produce and what we commit to in terms of values.

"As time goes by and technology advances, the clear differences between the Paralympics and the Olympics may disappear to some extent so maybe in the distant future, we will develop more of a commitment to the Olympic Games.

"But for the time being, we are delighted to be a Paralympic-only sponsor and it shows our commitment that the Paralympics is the only area we sponsor as a company; we don't sponsor anything else at all."

In Beijing, approximately 4,000 athletes competed and Otto Bock technicians handled 2,188 repairs, with London 2012 likely to see an increase on the figure.

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