Oscar Pistorius still charging
Fantastic news for Oscar, he gets the green light to compete with able body athletes, sprinting around a track at the highest level.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport have ruled against an IAAF ruling to prevent him competing in the Olympics. His personal best time for 400m is 46.5 secs and he needs to run a bit under 46 secs to run an SA qualifying time.
I wrote about his history here
The details of the latest on the ruling:
South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that has given him an Olympic Games lifeline.
The disabled 21-year-old sprinter runs on specially adapted carbon fibre blades after having his legs amputated below the knee.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had banned the 400 metres runner from all competitions involving able-bodied athletes because of claims that the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage.
However, CAS ruled against the IAAF decision.
“As you can imagine I have been struggling to hide my smile for the past half an hour,” Pistorius told a news conference.
“Now I can definitely say the truth has come out. I have the opportunity once again to chase my dream of the Olympics if not 2008, in 2012.”
After CAS’s ruling, Pistorius’ participation in the able-bodied events in Beijing will depend on him achieving the minimum Olympic qualifying time of 45.95 seconds, or 45.55 if another South African runs less than 45.95.
Pistorius’ personal record is 46.46.
-AFP/Reuters
