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Blade Runner: Everything You Need To Know About Oscar Pistorius, The Double Amputee Running In The Olympics

Oscar Pistorius’ story was already inspiring and uplifting before he made it to the Summer Olympics. Now, it promises to be even more compelling for the South African runner nicknamed “The Blade Runner.” (Seriously, that’s an awesome nickname.)

Pistorius, a double amputee, will be the first athlete amputee to ever compete in both the Paralympics (where he’s a four-time gold medal winner) and the Olympics. He will also be the first amputee athlete to compete in a track event at the Games.

Blade Runner will run in the 2012 Olympics on South Africa’s 4×400 relay team. It was also announced he was selected by South Africa to also run the individual 400 meter race. He tried to qualify for the same team in 2008, when the Olympics were held in China, but did not put in fast enough times to be selected.

This time around, he did.

“To have been selected to represent Team South Africa is a real honour, and I am so pleased that years of hard work, determination and sacrifice have all come together. Today is truly one of the proudest days of my life.”

Pistorius’ story of adversity begins from the very beginning of his life. Born in Johannesburg, he was born without a fibula in either of his legs. At 11 months old, doctors decided to amputate both of his legs halfway between his knees and ankles.

As a child, Pistorius was very involved in sports, but was never fond of competitively running. He was more interested in rugby, but after a serious injury to his knee while playing when he was 16, Pistorius was introduced to track. He “never looked back.”

To give you an idea of the type of athlete he is, here’s an excerpt from an interview he did with the Telegraph. It’s perhaps the only known instance of an athlete using the phrase “I was tackled on the wing and one of my legs came off.”

“I loved playing rugby. The standard, as you can imagine, was pretty high. There was one game where I was tackled on the wing and one of my legs came off, but I carried on over the try line.”

Pistorius’ road to the Olympics was blocked by another obstacle. Originally, it was ruled the prosthetic legs he was running with had more “spring” in them than human legs, giving him an unfair competitive advantage. (Originally, he was banned from competitive running.) But that decision was overturned by an appeals board back in 2008. And now, Pistorius is making history, and will be one of the most inspiring (and compelling) stories this summer.

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