Oscar Pistorius, South African's Double-amputee Sprinter, Wins Olympic Appeal

Oscar Pistorius, pictured below, South African's double-amputee sprinter, has won an appeal to allow him to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ruled the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on May 16.

South African Amputee Sprinter Oscar Pistorius picture
Oscar Pistorius, aka Blade Runner, is the fastest man on no legs. (Picture source: Xinkaishi.typepad.com

Oscar Pistorius was originally banned by IAAF to compete at an able-bodied athletes' Olympic event in January, being alleged of two of his prosthetic limbs (Cheetah Flex-Foot) giving an unfair advantage.

South African double-amputee Sprinter Oscar Pistorius Cheetah Flex Blade picture

After today’s ruling he can be selected for the South African relay team immediately, but will still have to reach the qualifying time in order to compete in the individual event.

South African double-amputee Sprinter Oscar Pistorius as a child picture
Child Oscar Pistorius (Picture source: DM)

Oscar Pistorius was born without fibulas (see picture above), the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle, and at 11 months old, his legs were amputated. But the atrocities did not hinder him to be a great paralympic athlete.

South African double-amputee Sprinter Oscar Pistorius running picture
Oscar Pistorius competing in a Paralympic game. (Photo source: smh)

His 10.91 second time in the 100m on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, makes Pistorius the first amputee to officially break the 11-second mark. On July 13, 2007, for the first time, he ran with able bodied athletes in the 400 m race at the high level competition- Rome's Golden Gala and finished second in run B with a time of 46.90s (see video below).

Oscar Pistorius had won a gold and bronze medalist at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. He created the 400 metre Paralympic world record of 46.56 seconds.