Oscar Pistorius had both legs amputated as a child - but he hasn't stopped that from letting him become a world-class runner. And his next stop may be the Olympic games.
Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old from South Africa, had both of his legs amputated below the knee at the age of eleven months. You might think that would slow him down a little –but one glimpse of him in motion would dispel that ludicrous idea for good.
Pistorius, who’s garnered nicknames including “Blade Runner” and “the fastest man on no legs,” has been making headlines for years as a world-class runner. Using a pair of high-tech Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetic legs, he’s won world records in the 100, 200, and 400 meter Paralympic events. But now, Pistorius has a new goal in mind: becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Pistorius wouldn’t be the first disabled athlete the Olympics has seen: A legally blind runner, Marla Runyan, competed in the track event at the Sydney Games, and a paraplegic archer participated in the 1984 Olympics. Several weeks ago, a fellow South African, Natalie du Toit, qualified for the Olympics as a swimmer.
But Pistorius’ prospects of qualifying for the games weren’t looking so great - according to some, his carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs were so advanced that they gave him an edge over able-bodied athletes. In January, after a series of tests to determine how Flex-Foot prosthetic limbs functioned in a sprint, the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) placed a ban on using such artificial limbs in the competitions conducted by their organization, which include the Olympic Games.
Fortunately for Pistorius, the decision was recently overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and he and his Flex-Feet are free to compete. But he’s not packing his bags for the voyage to China quite yet - he still needs to qualify for the South African team, which means he’ll need to shave nearly a second off his personal best time.
Pistorius will be working hard to build up speed over the coming months, and will attempt to qualify for the Games in July. But he won’t be discouraged if he fails to make the team: “It’s always been a dream to compete in the Olympics,” he told The Boston Globe. “But if I look back at my career and I haven’t participated, it will still be a dream satisfied.”<
And, in any case, there’s always 2012.