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Natural Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness
News
Blade runner
makes history by becoming first ‘disabled’ athlete to
qualify for able-bodied Olympics 400m
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After a long
battle to compete with able-bodied athletes, South African
double amputee Oscar Pistorius has qualified for the 2012
London Olympics and next month's world championships by
smashing his 400m personal best.
Pistorious, known as 'Blade Runner' because he runs on
carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, recorded a new
personal best of 45.07 seconds for the 400m race in
Lignano, Italy yesterday.
Pistorius, 24, who had both legs amputated when he was
just 11-months-old because of a congenital disorder, said:
'It was like a dream race. |
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I just have
not been able to sleep. I must have 300 messages
congratulating me.
'I am sure tomorrow when I wake up it (the accomplishment)
is going to hit me. It is really humbling to know I have
gotten so much support from everyone.'
The winning
performance means Pistorius has made history to become the
first amputee sprinter to qualify for the world
championships, which begin on August 27 in Daegu, South
Korea.
A multiple
Paralympic gold medalist, the South African had sought for
years to compete in the world championships and Olympics.
istorius's
new time would have earned him fifth place in the men's
400m final in the 2008 Olympics and the runner was
overwhelmed at his achievement.
'With 180 metres out, I just decided to set out for the
end, and I really ran a very comfortable last 100 metres,'
he said.
'It is kind of strange because I broke my personal best by
half a second, which is ridiculous.'
Pistorius was born with a congenital absence of the fibula
- the calf bone.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport gave him a chance to
compete with able-bodied athletes in May 2008, when it
ruled in his favour after a long legal battle with the
International Association of Athletics Federations over
the use of his running blades, which the IAAF said gave
him an unfair advantage.
In January 2008 the IAAF claimed that Pistorious's blades
required him to use 25 per cent less energy than his
rivals to run at the same speed.
But the determined athlete argued that he was running at a
disadvantage, with less blood in his body and no calf
muscles, and Cas ruled he could compete with his blades.
But after the CAS decision, he failed to record a time
inside the Olympic qualifying mark and missed the Beijing
Games, although he won the 100m, 200m and 400m at the
Beijing Paralympics.
The CAS stressed that any advancements in the
prosthetic-limb technology used by Pistorius could be
contested by the IAAF again.
Source:
www.dailymail.co.uk
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