2012 Summer OlympicsVideo

Oscar Pistorius’ Nametag Swap With A Competitor Was One Of The Olympics’ Cooler Moments

We’ve said quite a bit around here about Oscar Pistorius, the South African runner competing in the Olympics who also happens to be a double amputee (which has been the cause of some controversy, thanks to his prosthetic blade legs). It’s been deserved – he’s a double amputee running with Olympians. Controversy or not, pretty amazing story.

Yesterday, though, a major part of that story came to an end, as Pistorius failed to qualify for the final in the 400 meters. (He’s still got the 4×400 meter relay left to race.) Despite not moving on, though, Pistorius sounded in good spirits, calling his Olympic experience “a dream come true,” and if there was any doubt about how much he’d achieved, the post-race interaction between him and Grenada’s Kirani James, who topped the field, pretty well removed any:

Again, James had just won, and the first thing he did was perform the closest racing equivalent to asking for an autograph. I always thought jersey-swapping was one of the weirder traditions in soccer – handshakes will suffice as a show of respect without exchanging sweat-soaked shirts, people – but this? This was pretty cool. Safe to say, for all the controversy, James sure didn’t have a problem with Pistorius being allowed to compete against him.

Video by CJ Fogler.