LONDON (AP) — Getting to the Olympics was incredible enough for Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee track star running on carbon fiber blades. Now he has a realistic shot at something even more remarkable — a medal.
Pistorius, whose legs were amputated below the knee when he was a baby, will be allowed to run any of the four parts of the 4×400-meter relay. He won’t be held back by concerns that the blades replacing his lower legs would tangle with other runners when they leave their designated starting lanes during the race.
As a slow starter, he is better suited to running in the latter stages of the race and won’t be restricted to just the first segment, when competitors stay in their individual lanes. That will improve his chances of actually getting a medal.
“I don’t know which leg I am going to run, but I am ready to run whichever leg they will ask me to run,” Pistorius said at a news conference Wednesday.
The South African is totally at peace with the international track and field federation, which once sought to keep him out of its races because of his artificial legs. He smoothly and politely dismisses any critic who still says it is unfair to allow him to run at the Olympics.
Only one issue produced contentious words: his exclusion from last year’s world championship 4×400 relay final and his restriction to running anything but the leadoff segment of the semifinal race.
“It made for a very unprofessional decision. I was the quickest athlete in the country,” Pistorius said. “I will never understand the decision and, yes, I am bitter about it.”
The federation said it never restricted Pistorius to the first segment but merely advised that his blades could prove a danger to other runners if he were running in a pack in other parts of the race.
Last year, the South African team limited him to the first leg in the semifinal. And even though the four-runner squad set a national record there, he surprisingly was not picked for the final, where South Africa took silver behind the overpowering U.S. team.
The final, he said, was “the race I was entitled to run in. I always say that and someone should be held accountable for it.” It kept him from mounting the medal podium for the silver and he only got his medal later.
Ever since, the man known as the “Blade Runner” has been bent on trying to prove he is no danger to other racers. He had a silver medal performance at the African championships last month.
He will be happy to get to the individual 400 semifinals, but his real chance for success is in the relay.
The United States will be the overwhelming favorite, but after the Americans are Jamaica, Kenya, Belgium and Russia.
After a lackluster start to the season, his form has improved. The 25-year-old even got a first individual medal when he finished second at the African championships.
“This season, I struggled a little bit to get into the rhythm,” Pistorius said. Ahead of Saturday’s 400 heats though, “I feel very strong.”
And any good time will further have to convince South African selectors to use Pistorius where he likes it best — second or third in the relay.
“What I can do in order to prepare is show I can perform,” Pistorius said.
