The Summer Olympics in Beijing don't begin for nearly two months, but we've already isolated their most controversial aspect.

The Games are in China, where everything is going smoothly as long as you look past the growing hum of international protests over Tibet and Darfur; of people purposely dousing the Olympic torch on multiple continents; of the pollution police on active patrol; of countries possibly boycotting the Opening Ceremonies; and of the Chinese government abruptly flexing its paranoid muscles about TV access to places like Tiananmen Square.

So it's pretty safe to say the gold for controversy has been wrapped up weeks before the Games of the XXIX Olympiad are to open Aug. 8.

There's a strong candidate for silver, though, and it has nothing to do with performance-enhancing drugs.

There are those who believe these Olympics will become known for being the gateway to technological hell, and they offer two compelling examples:

• South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee whose carbon fiber extensions are so radical that international track officials maintain he has an advantage over his able-bodied rivals.

• U.S. swimming icon Michael Phelps, his American teammates and many of their challengers, who've been given the OK to wear cutting-edge bodysuits made by Speedo that have already demolished the world record landscape.

In truth, only one qualifies as a true techno distortion and it's not the guy born without fibulas 21 years ago.

Pistorius should be celebrated for his perseverance, not barred from the Olympics as decreed by the International Association of Athletics Federations in January.

The IAAF decided the so-called "Cheetah Blades" gave Pistorious, the world record-holder in the 100, 200 and 400 meters for Paralympians, "a technical aid in violation of the rules" because the J-shaped extensions translate to less performance energy expended compared to an able-bodied sprinter.

Four months later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the IAAF, saying its panel was "not persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage."

The fact Pistorius has run times that are no threat to the fleetest able-bodied sprinters — 10.91 seconds in the 100, 21.58 in the 200 and 46.56 in the 400 — make his Olympic exclusion even more laughable.

Meanwhile, dozens of world records have fallen since Speedo introduced its LZR bodysuits, which reduce drag up to 10 percent, are water repellent and, unlike their skimpier predecessors, float when thrown into the water instead of sinking.

FINA, the governing body for international swimming, certified the LZR for competition saying it found no scientific proof that the bodysuit provides an edge responsible for all the records being set.

So it's just a coincidence that of the 22 world records set between February and April, 21 were set by swimmers wearing the LZR?

In wake of that trend, a coach with the Italian national team has called the LZR a form of "technological doping." Another national coach from Australia has written an open letter to international swimming officials to reconsider their decision.

Which technological advancement looms as the greatest Olympic disruption?

Dive in and be the judge.