Oscar Pistorius ready for the London Olympics

I first blogged about the 25-years-old Oscar Pistorius four years ago. It was in May 2008 and I had heard about this disabled runner from South Africa whose ambition was to take part in the able-bodied Summer Olympics. At that time, the Beijing Olympics was just around the corner and Oscar Pistorius was working hard to qualify as the first paraplegic to participate in the Athletics competition.

How was Pistorius a paraplegic if that was indeed his ambition? Wouldn't it be a dichotomy for that to happen. For you see, Pistorius is an amputee. He was born without fibulae in his legs. It was a very rare medical condition. Without the fibula, it would be impossible for a person to walk, let alone run.

When Oscar was 11 months old, his parents had to make the difficult yet brave decision to amputate the young boy's legs below the knees. Now he was really disabled but it was the only way to give him the independence and make a life of his own in the future. As he grew, he was fitted with prosthetics that allowed him to grow up almost like a normal boy.

He played rugby, water polo and tennis during his schooldays, and even took part in Olympic wrestling. While undergoing rehabilitation after a serious rugby knee injury in 2003, he was introduced to running in January 2004 and since then, he never looked back. His favourite event today is the 400 metres race and he holds the world record time of 10.91 seconds for a 100-metre race for a disabled person. Mighty impressive!

So how does Pistorius do that? How does he run as a double amputee? The artificial limbs he uses are specially designed for people like him. They are a pair of J-shaped carbon-fibre prosthetics called the "Cheetah Flex-Foot" manufactured by an Icelandic company. With these fitted on, Oscar has basically become the fastest physically disabled runner in the world.

In 2007, the IAAF amended their regulations to prevent anyone with "any technical device that incorporates springs, wheels or any other element that provides a user with an advantage over another athlete not using such a device" from taking part in able-bodied competitions as they considered the use of such prosthetics gave an unfair edge over normal athletes. At that time, Pistorius was already eyeing participation in the Beijing Olympics and he felt the ruling was unfair to him.

He took the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and won an appeal against their amendment. But there was now another challenge for him. In order to qualify for the Olympics, he had to meet the IOC's qualifying marks. In this, he failed narrowly to achieve and thus was not selected to run by the South African Olympic Committee.

Nevertheless, he still could run in the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics. In the heats of the 100 metres, he set a Paralympic record with his time of 11.16 seconds. Later, he snatched gold in the 100 metres final in a time of 11.17 seconds. Days later, he won a second gold in the 200 metres event in a time of 21.67 seconds which was another Paralympic record. He completed a hat-trick by winning gold in the 400 metres in a world-record time of 47.49 seconds.

In the years since Beijing, Pistorius has gone on from strength to strength. He competed across a number of able-bodied races in 2011 and thrice, he posted times under 46 seconds in the 400 metres. After that, he set a personal best of 45.07 seconds in the 400 metres. And only last month, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee finally handed him a place in the South Africa Olympic team.

He will thus become the first double amputee runner to take part in the Olympic Games. In London, he will compete in the 400 metres and the 4x400 metres relay races. This is a culmination of Pistorius' dreams and we can watch history unfolding today after 5.30pm local time here in Malaysia.

Oscar Pistorius is the finest reminder that astonishing physical accomplishment is not limited to only able-bodied people. It does not matter whether his artificial limbs provide his with an unfair advantage - in fact, the consensus seems to be that they may make him slower to start than able-bodied runners, thus canceling out any boost later - the point remains that being able to run on them is a major success for disability awareness. Regardless of his results in London, people around the world are set to see disabled persons in a different light.

Oscar Pistorius: "Beijing Olympics, here I come!"

"A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It is the one who sits and watches and has never tried to run." - Sheila Pistorius, writing about her 17-month-old son about 20 years ago.

For the first time in Olympics history, we may see a disabled man compete with able-bodied men in the athletics events.

Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius won his appeal to compete in the Beijing Olympics from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday against a ban imposed on him by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

In November last year, the IAAF carried out tests on the 21-year-old "blade runner" at the German Sport University in Cologne to determine if his carbon fibre prosthetics, known as Cheetah limbs, could be considered a technical aid.

After using high-speed cameras, special equipment to measure ground-reaction forces and a three- dimensional scanner to record body mass to test him, the team of 10 scientists concluded that Pistorius was able to run with his blades at the same speed as able-bodied sprinters with about 25 percent less energy. Pistorius' blades gave him an energy return nearly three times higher than the human ankle joint offers in maximum sprinting.

Based on these findings, the IAAF banned Pistorius from competing, saying his carbon fibre blades gave him a mechanical advantage.

However, a panel of three arbitrators at CAS headquarters in Lausanne heard his appeal last month and ruled that it not been persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage in favour of a double-amputee using the blades.

The CAS decision has been hailed by several quarters, including the IAAF itself, and Pistorius can now expect invitations from track and field promoters across the world who want him to run at their meets before Beijing.

"Oscar will be welcomed wherever he competes this summer," IAAF president Lamine Diack said in a statement. "He is an inspirational man and we look forward to admiring his achievements in the future."

Here's the background information on the fastest man on no legs.

And finally, you can see him run in Rome last year:

Oscar Pistorius: First gold in Beijing Paralympics

Blade runner Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee from South Africa, has won his gold medal in a photo-finish at the 100 metres event in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Here's an excerpt from an Associated Press report:
One gold medal down and two to go for the sprinter Oscar Pistorius of South Africa at the Beijing Paralympics.

Despite a slow start on a wet track Tuesday, Pistorius won the most difficult of his three races, taking gold in the 100 meters in 11.17 seconds. Jerome Singleton (11.20) and Brian Frasure (11.50), both of the United States, finished second and third.

“I had a tough start and a slow first 30 meters,” Pistorius said. “I really just pulled out all the stops.”

After the prize ceremony: Singleton, Pistorius and Frasure. They sure look like regular blokes to me!

Pistorius fails in Olympics qualification

With the Beijing Olympics due to open in five days' time, I'm just following up on the intriguing case of Oscar Pistorius.

If you remember, I did write about him once. He's the double-amputee from South Africa who battled with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for months and then finally winning an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport to allow him to race against able-bodied athletes. More recently, he faced concerns that he could pose a danger to other athletes.

Now the news is out that he has been left out of South Africa's Olympic team for the Beijing Games. After failing to meet the qualifying standard to run in the 400 metres, Pistorius was also left off the 4x400m relay team after Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene confirmed that four other athletes had faster times than him.

Pistorius fell short of the 400m qualifying time of 45.55 seconds, although he has a personal best time of 46.25. Last May, he said that his legal battles had prevented him from focusing on training, and that it might be more realistic to aim at qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics. But I hear that he will be competing in the 100, 200 and 400 at the Beijing Paralympics. He holds world records in all three events.

"From the beginning, we knew that he had to qualify," said his manager PeetVan Zyl. "We didn't expect him to be granted any special opportunity or anything. The rules are the rules."

Second gold for Oscar Pistorius at Beijing Paralympics

Oscar Pistorius has won his second gold of the 200 metres race at the Beijing Paralympics in front of a huge crowd at the Bird's Nest national stadium. He finished in 21.67secs, almost a second clear of Jim Bob Bizzell from the United States, with Britain's Ian Jones in third.

"This race is definitely one of my best ever races. I've never run in front of a crowd this big and just the crowd, the athletes, it was an awesome race and I couldn't have hoped for anything better," he said. "This is definitely one of the most amazing nights ever. It's really been a good memory." Pistorius has just one race left, the 400m, in which he will be pushing for a world record.

Pistorius picks up third gold in Beijing Paralympics

Woh! South Africa's Oscar Pistorius has picked up his third gold medal at the Beijing 2000 Paralympic Games. This medal in the 400m event completes a treble for him after having won the 100m and 200m earlier. In the 400m, he finished in a time of 47.49 seconds, a world record for his disability class. That's true grit!

Jim Bob Bizzell of the United States won the silver medal and Ian Jones of Britain took the bronze.

It's reported that Pistorius' next goal is to qualify for the world championships next year in Berlin, where he would face able-bodied runners. He is also looking toward the London 2012 Olympics.

Opening ceremony of the other Games (Paralympics)

The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games' opening ceremony is now going on at the Bird's Nest. A pity that there's not much publicity at home. I wonder whether Malaysia have any athletes there? But I know that South Africa's Oscar Pistorius is running in the 100m, 200m and 300m athletics competition starting Monday. More details from the official website.

What I missed yesterday...

Yesterday was a most significant day at the London Olympics and I had to miss all of the action because I was on a trip down to Kuala Lumpur and back. All these I had missed, unfortunately....

Lee Chong Wei's heart-breaking loss to his perennial rival, Lin Dan, in the badminton men's single final.

Andy Murray's superlative win against Roger Federer in the tennis men's single final at the ersatz Wimbledon.

Usain Bolt defending his title with consummate ease against the toughest opposition in the athletics men's 100 metres final.

Oscar Pistorius making an historic run on artificial limbs in the athletics men's 400 metres semi-final race.