The Times April 24, 2006
Pistorius willing and able to compete with the best
By Matthew Pryor
Our correspondent reports on the extraordinary sprinter aiming for the 2008 Olympics
OSCAR PISTORIUS. Remember the name, because this boy is going to change the world.
The 19-year-old South African they call “Bladerunner”and “The fastest thing on no legs” has been keeping a low profile for a year, finishing school. A more muscular Pistorius has emerged from the gym with his eyes fixed on Beijing.
“I want to be the first guy that runs in an able-bodied Olympics,” he says. “We’ve got 28 months to Beijing. It was a big decision to make about school. It meant I couldn’t try and qualify for the Commonwealths. I had the opportunity to go and run my first ablebodied grand prix meeting, which I couldn’t do.
“The World Championships in Helsinki, which I was invited to go to, were a huge thing for me and I couldn’t go. But I didn’t want to waste 11 years of school. I won’t be doing any able-bodied competitions this year. When I started it was short-term goals, now I have a plan.”
Pistorius, a double amputee, has rewritten the Paralympic record books over 200 metres and 400 metres in the past two years. But it is his desire to make the crossover to the Olympics that will blur the boundaries of “able-bodied” and “disabled” sport.
To behold Pistorius running is breathtaking. People find it difficult not to double-take at first sight. At the Battersea Park athletics track, where Pistorius is doing some promotion shoots for his next competition, the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester from May 1 to 7, a few Belgrave Harriers are trying to concentrate on their sprint training. Pistorius begins to strip down, takes off his everyday legs (which you cannot tell he is wearing under his tracksuit), puts on his blades, which are vacuum-sucked to the point below each knee where his legs were amputated, then is up and sprinting off. He has to: it is difficult standing still with no heels, and sprinters do not use them anyway. Just for a beat, the Belgrave Harriers stop and three pairs of eyes follow Pistorius up the track.
Born without the fibula and other bones in both legs, he was 11 months old when his parents, Henke and Sheila, signed the papers agreeing to have their son’s legs amputated below the knee. They had consulted medical experts all over the world, but all roads led to the operation. Afterwards, they took their little bundle home and hoped that he would grow strong. They could not have dreamt how strong.
Pistorius is capable of making a giant leap for Paralympic sport because he is already competing on a level playing field. Last year, he came sixth in the South African (able-bodied) Athletics Championships with a time of 47.34sec over 400 metres. He was 18, a year into full-time athletics and it was only the fifth time that he had run the distance. What meaning does the label “ disabled” have if you are beating the “able-bodied”? There was a whisper against Pistorius, that his legs are giving him an unfair advantage, but the International Paralympic Committee threw out a protest against him in Athens and no restrictions have been made on him competing in able-bodied events.
It is through example that Pistorius will speak most eloquently, but his views have matured. “I think it’s sad that people have one disability, maybe they’re missing a leg and they view themselves as disabled,” he says. “They’ve got millions of other abilities, but they view themselves as disabled.
“When I see disabled parking I don’t think it’s for someone with no legs, I think it’s for the old ladies who can’t walk far. Parents call me and say ‘my kid’s lost his leg in an accident, they’re so depressed, what must they do?’ They must stop shielding the kid, they do that far too often in today’s world.
“People are using missing a leg as an excuse. I think ‘Jeez, your mindset has really got to change.’ Maybe I don’t understand it because I don’t know what it’s like losing a limb. For me, I’ve been like this all my life. If you asked me if I wanted to, I wouldn’t take your legs any day.”
He pulls up his trouser leg to reveal seriously dented prosthetics. “Check here,” he says. “Motorbike burn from where I fell off the other day. I can’t say ‘Oh, I wish I had legs’ because I probably wouldn’t have them any more. I would have lost them long ago. I’m happy with my legs, I really am.”
SEE THE WORLD
The Visa Paralympic World Cup will take place in Manchester from May 1 to 7.
365 athletes from 45 countries have been invited to compete in four sports; athletics, track cycling, swimming and wheelchair basketball.
The event is hosted by the British Paralympic Association and supported by Visa, UK Sport, Manchester City Council and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Tickets are available on www.visaparalympicworldcup.com or by phone on 0870 165 2005