2012 Summer OlympicsMedia Monster

Oscar “The Blade Runner” Pistorius Makes Olympic Debut, Qualifies For 400m Semifinal

There’s a lot of adjectives you could use to describe the story of double amputee Oscar Pistorius. Inspiring. Controversial. Heartwarming. Whichever word you choose to describe it, it is undoubtedly groundbreaking. The Blade Runner made history Saturday when he became the first double amputee to compete on the track at the Olympic Games.

Pistorius competed in a 400m heat and finished second at 45.44 seconds, good enough to qualify him for Sunday’s semifinal. The South African will also compete on his country’s 4×400 relay team.

To give you a quick refresher, Pistorius was born without a fibula in either of his legs. Before his first birthday, doctors decided to amputate both legs halfway between his knees and ankles. He grew up on rugby, but gave it up for track when he sustained a knee injury at 16. He “never looked back.”

The Blade Runner is a decorated paralympic athlete (four Paralympics gold medals), but was originally banned from competitive running because of the alleged extra “spring” his prosthetic legs put in his step. He won an appeal in 2008, which was the catalyst on his quest to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.

That all culminated Saturday in his Olympic debut. By all measures of his heat, it was an unremarkable, run-of-the-mill race, but Pistorius’ story is anything but the sort. Regardless of the results The Blade Runner achieves going forward, he has already made history.