The life of an amputee can’t be easy, add being an athlete and more troubles are sure to arise. However, after going through a court battle in 2008 to become eligible to compete for a spot on the Olympic team he ran a time that didn’t qualify him to run in the Beijing. After running a quarter of a second too slow in the qualifying trials, South African officials selected Pistorius based on his two Olympic standard times over the past year as reported by NBC.
Teddy Reddy South African Olympic committee chief told the Associated Press that they believe he has the ability to win;
“Since he’s going to be there (in London), our decision is he can run both, there’s no reason why he can’t. Our decision is he can.”
Pistorius took to twitter to share his excitement with the world, letting everyone know he’d be on his way to London.
“Will be in (at)London2012 for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games! Thank you to everyone that has made me the athlete I am! God, family and friends, my competitors and supporters! You have all had a hand!”
While Pistorius is a multiple Paralympic champion, he will now take to the big stage and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs considering he’ll partake in both the Olympics and Paralympics and if fatigue becomes a factor. Hopefully none of the competitors hold his condition against him citing he has an unfair advantage. No matter what, Pistorius has overcome the odds just to be in the position to race at the Olympics, I’m sure he’s not satisfied with just making, though his mere appearance will be enough to inspire many who suffer from a similar disability.
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