Oscar Pistorius

  

  


Oscar Pistorius long, and the sound of his carbon fiber prosthetic running on the track continued listening, even when 80,000 spectators cheered to see that it became a Olympic legend. The South African far accelerated down the stretch, overtook a couple of opponents and, by the end, achieved his mission with relative ease. But the important thing is that finally ran a competition to which belong always believed.

Saturday Pistorius became the first disabled athlete in history to participate in the Olympics and was delighted to be crowned a struggle for years to get permission to compete with carbon fiber prosthetics. He was the star of the qualifying heats of the 400 meters in 2012.

After having qualified for the semifinals of the specialty to be second in the first of seven series contested at the Olympic Stadium, Pistorius was ecstatic with his performance and the warm welcome they gave the 82,000 fans.

Pistorius easily advanced to the semifinals thanks to a mark of 45.44 seconds, heralded as his best time of the season but the athlete claims to have run the distance in 45.20 seconds this year.

RIVALS praise him

The South African had time to slow before arrival to save energy and was second after the Dominican Luguelin Santos, junior world champion, who won with 45.04 seconds. "I knew the attention would be on it, but I love it. He is the star, "said Santos.

The world champion Kirani James of Grenada, who won the second set without much effort and with a time of 45.23 seconds, coincided with the American: "Oscar is someone I really respect. I tip my hat to him. What it does need a lot of courage and confidence. I wished him well before the race and I wish you the same. We have a lot of mutual respect. "

A LONG STRUGGLE

The athlete, who is 25, was born without fibulas, so they had amputársele both legs below the knee when he was only one year. His story is inspiring, emotive and controversial, like the result.

Pistorius was able in 2008 to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) allowed to compete in able-bodied events after dozens of hearings in front of hundreds of men and women who had to decide whether the prostheses gave him an unfair advantage. The high court lifted the ban sports that originally had imposed the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 2007.

The IAAF wanted to prevent their participation in competitions Pistorius claiming carbon prostheses used give it an advantage over able-bodied athletes.

He failed in his attempt to participate in Beijing 2008 but debuted in nondisabled events in Daegu World 2011, where he earned a silver medal as part of the 4 × 400 meters relay, but did not compete in the final.

"As you progress, your goals are harder, your knowledge is better and start to adjust everything. The pressure you put on each competition is huge. It's hard sometimes, (but) if you work hard and live it, is simply amazing. "