Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African sprint runner. Pistorius, who has double below-knee amputations, competes in T44 events though he is actually classified in T43.
Born: November 22, 1986, Pretoria
Full name: Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius
Nationality: South African
I have a strong sense that I have to educate people about disability.
I don’t see myself as disabled. There’s nothing I can’t do that able-bodied athletes can do.
You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.
I’d like to show people that if you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself, then you can do whatever you want to.
I can have my goals, and I can have my dreams. My goal is to make the finals and improve my position. I want to run all decent races. I don’t want to look back and say I ran a terrible race.
My mother used to tell us in the mornings, ‘Carl put on your shoes, Oscar you put on your prosthetic legs… So I grew up not really thinking I had a disability. I grew up thinking I had different shoes.
To have been selected to represent Team South Africa at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the individual 400m and the 4x400m relay is a real honor and I am so pleased that years of hard work, determination and sacrifice have all come together.
My parents didn’t give me any scope to feel sorry for myself. They were just like ‘go play with your brother, go climb a tree, go fall off your motorbike, do whatever you want. Don’t come crying to us when you get scratched. You’ve got prosthetic legs – that’s very nice.
If the legs did provide such an advantage that some of the people are claiming they did, then there would be a lot more amputees using the exact same prosthetic legs I have, running the exact same times I have and that’s not the case.
Out of the tens of thousands of prosthetic legs they’ve made, there’s never been any 400-meter athletes run under 50 seconds. So, if this was such a technologically advanced prosthetic leg, then how come not everyone’s qualifying, or coming close to the qualification time, then?
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!
