Blade Runner’s Olympic dream one step closer

The Olympic Games is the most prestigious multi-sport event on earth, with only the Soccer World Cup comparable in size and magnitude. It is the ultimate dream for many a competitor to win an Olympic gold medal in their chosen field, since it is recognition of being one of if not the world’s best competitor since to get a gold medal is very very had indeed.

The Olympics also represents or more appropriately aims to represent the best of the human spirit. So it was with much pleasure that I read online that Oscar Pistorius has now qualified for both the World Championship in August and next year’s London Olympics after running 45.07 in the 400 metres at an athletics meeting in Italy on Tuesday, the 19th of July.

Pistorius is the current world record holder in three different sprint classes at paralympic level, and has been attempting to qualify for the 2012 Olympics since May 2008. That was when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a previous IAAF ruling that the prosthetic legs he ran on (which resemble blades hence his nick name) gave him an unfair advantage. Having now run a time that qualifies as a ‘A’ qualifying time, he can now be selected by South Africa to represent his nation at the Olympics and at this Augusts’ World Championships.

When Pistorius runs at the World Championships, set to be held in the South Korean city of Daegu, he will become the first amputee to ever compete at the able-bodied World Championship. That 45.07 was also his last chance to qualify for the World Championships, and having done it, his perseverance has been rewarded.

Of his current rivals, Pistorius has now leap frogged both Ofentse Mogawane and Lebogang Moeng as the second fastest South African over 400 metres, with only the experienced LJ van Zyl lying ahead of him. Pistorius was born without fibulae (lower leg bones), and began running seriously only in 2004 after being told that is would be a good way to rehabilitate from a rugby injury.

For those wondering how good he is, that time in Italy would’ve placed him fifth at the 2008 Olympics, so the man originally from Sandton (before it became the economic hub of Johannesburg) is definitely not making up the numbers. If he keeps on improving, who knows what’s possible. By getting this far, Pistorius has achieved more than anyone could have imagined. Congratulations to him, since his qualification is a testament to the doggedness and determination that all South Africans possess if not harness.