Oscar “the Blade Runner” Pistorius will be the first ever athlete with an amputation to compete on the track at the Olympics when he travels to the 2012 London games to race in the individual 400m event, and in the 4X400 relay with South African team members Willem de Beer, Ofentse Mogawane, and Shaun de Jager.
Pistorius, a bilateral transtibial amputee, missed the individual 400m qualifying time by two-tenths of a second in the African Championships, Porto Novo, Benin, on June 29. However, South Africa’s Olympic Committee and national track federation selected him to race in the Olympics based on the merits of his second-place, silver medal win in that race.
He will also compete in the 2012 London Paralympic Games, where he will race the 100m, 200m, and 400m T43/44 sprints, as well as the 4x100m relay.
