OSCAR PISTORIUS inched closer to competing at the London Olympics yesterday when he ran the Olympic qualifying time at a provincial meeting in South Africa.
The multiple Paralympic champion, who runs on specially made carbon fibre blades, clocked a time of 45.20sec for the 400m, a tenth of a second inside the required A standard and has put himself in line to become the first male Paralympian to compete on the track at an Olympic Games.
Natalie du Toit, another Paralympic champion, swam for South Africa at the Beijing Games and the American middle-distance runner Marla Runyan, who was legally blind, ran in the 1500m in Sydney. But 25-year-old Pistorius, who had his legs amputated at the age of 11 months, has spent his life breaking down barriers and, often controversially, blurring the boundaries between Paralympic and Olympic sport.
He ran faster at a meeting in Italy last summer but was told by the South African selectors he would need to repeat his qualifing time this year to confirm his form for the Olympics. Pistorius, who reached the semi-finals of the world championships in Daegu last year, his first major able-bodied championships, has run the fastest time in South Africa this season. But he will have to wait until mid-summer before his selection is confirmed.
“This is a huge moment for me,” he said. “When I crossed the line and saw the time it was magical. I am looking forward hopefully to being confirmed as a member of the SA Olympic team. I would be proud to compete for my country at the Olympics and at the Paralympics.”
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Pistorius has endured a decade-long struggle to fulfil his ambition of becoming an Olympian. He missed out narrowly on qualifying for Beijing and after being suspended from international able-bodied competition by the International Athletics Federation, he was finally cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration in Sport four years ago after a legal battle. The IAAF concluded that Pistorius’ curved £15,000 blades gave him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes but the CAS found no conclusive evidence for the claim. Pistorius, though, is only able to use the blades that conform to precise IAAF specifications.
Pistorius is scheduled to make his first appearance in Europe this season at the BT Paralympic world cup in Manchester in May.