Oscar Pistorius : “The fastest man on no legs”, He came, He saw, He conquered

Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius know as “Blade Runner” is a South African sprint runner who has a double below-knee amputation. He is the world record holder for 100,200 and 400m T44 events which he set in Beijing Olympics Paralympic event also this year he qualified for the 400m race event for the summer Olympics and even reached the semifinals of the events. Pistorius runs with the aid of carbon fibre flex foot, artificial Limb. Even in Paralympics he competes in T44 (single below knee amputees) events even when he is actually classified in T43 (double below knee amputee).

Oscar Pistorius who was born on 22 November 1986 created history on 4th of August 2012 in London when he became the first double leg amputee to participate in Summer Olympics. Not only he participated in qualification heat for much coveted 400m event but also stood second in his heat with the time of 45.44 seconds and qualified for semifinals. He unfortunately lost in the semifinals even after cloaking 46.54seconds but undoubtedly he has written a history which is difficult to surpass and won numerous hearts across the globe.

Kirani Jones two times winner of 400m Gold medal after racing with Oscar in semi finals went ahead and exchanged name tags with him and when Kirani was asked how the race was he said that he was honored to be running a race with Oscar Pistorius”

Pistorious’s journey to be able to compete with able bodied athletes in Olympics was also not easy story he had to fight for the right to compete, pursuing the IAAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after it ruled that his blades offered an advantage over able-bodied rivals. Part of Pistorius’s appeal was his refusal to be considered as an exception. He said he wanted to be judged as a competitor just like his peers. Pistorius said: “My focus throughout this appeal has been to ensure that disabled athletes be given the chance to compete and compete fairly with able-bodied athletes.
I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics.” After going through numerous demonstrations, chemical and medical tests, numerous rejections, after fighting his case more than two years and after lots of people support he was finally allowed to participate in the event on 16th may 2008.

In 2011 world championship Daegu, Oscar became the first amputee to win an able-bodied world track medal when he took South Africa to the silver medal in the 4×400 relay event. He also won silver medal in 2012 African Championship in athletics in Benin in 400m event. He simply proved what he famously says “You are not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have”