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Oscar 'Blade Runner' Pistorius
Having half killed myself a couple of months ago I must say it’s very nice to be alive and well and about to compete in the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester. I’ve just recovered from crashing my 23-foot speedboat into a pier hidden by a high river caused my heavy rain, the result being some broken ribs, having my jaw wired up and some titanium placed in my battered left eye socket.
To be honest the titanium is not all bad news. I am forever being stopped at airports when my prosthetic legs send the alarms off as I go through security. In fact, two years’ ago, I’d been shooting with some friends and then went to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam not knowing that there was some gun residue on my legs. That caused me to spend a couple of hours in a holding cell after the metal detectors went nuts. So, at least my eye might force the alarms to go off this time, and not my legs. It was getting so boring.
Like all good captains, I went down with my ship, and now that it has been repaired I’ve re-named it The Titanic, but I might be taking it a bit easier next time I decide to speed along swollen rivers.
Mind you, it’s going to be a while now as I have arrived in Europe for a summer of Paralympic and able-bodied competition, starting with the World Cup in Manchester, a fitting place to begin as it is the home of my beloved Manchester United. I got to know some of the players when they came down to South Africa for a pre-season tournament last year, especially Wayne Rooney who, despite what some people may think by his playing persona, is really a very nice and knowledgeable guy. Before you ask, I have been to Old Trafford on a few occasions as well, so I haven’t just jumped on their bandwagon. I’m also a big Lazio supporter, am a club member, have been to the Stadio Olympic a few times to see them play, and am good friends with Mark Fish, the South African football star who played in Rome for a while. It causes problems with my main sponsor, though. Mr Troncetti is the owner of both Pirelli and Inter Milan and he always gives me grief when we meet over my allegiance to Lazio.
I’ll be watching a lot of football next year back in South Africa when we host the World Cup. I’ve taken a look at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg and the Green Point stadium in Cape Town, both newly-built for the tournament, and they are looking magnificent. It is such an exciting time for South African sports fans, what with the IPL cricket taking place right now, the Confederations Cup next month and, best of all, the Springboks versus the British & Irish Lions. I’m going to be in Italy during the test series but there is a South African rugby pub in Milan and, trust me, I will be glue to the screen watching what I expect will be a very tight series of test matches.
Of course, I also have the small matter of competition myself. Most of last year was taken up with court cases and proving that my blades provide no advantage at all, and that my achievements are down to sheer hard work. I’m glad it happened because it ends the debate once and for all but it made it a tough time, especially with Beijing as well.
This year it is too much to expect to qualify for the able-bodied World Championships in Berlin, but I hope to make it into the 400 metres for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi and then, of course, the London 2012 Games. I need to post a time of 45.95 seconds to make both the Commonwealths and the Olympics and, seeing that I was 0.27 seconds out last year, I’m very hopeful.
All I want to do now is to be seen as an athlete, and not a disabled athlete. I look back on my disability and realise that the challenges it has thrown up have helped to make me the person that I am, and I often wonder whether I would have achieved half of what I have had I not had my legs amputated. If someone offered me the chance now to have a pair of normal legs I really don’t think I’d take them. I am what I am, and I’m very happy about that.
I’m also happy that the next Olympics are in London. I’ve always felt very comfortable whenever I’m over in the UK and made to feel more than welcome. It’s fair to say that no country in the world has come close to supporting Paralympic sport compared to the UK and I and my fellow athletes are extremely grateful.
I have another link to the UK, though, and it comes in the form of my grandmother, who was born and bred in London. We have the most amazing electrical storms in South Africa and each time they strike you can always find my grandmother hiding under a blanket because it reminds her of the London blitz during the war. She is so cool.
Hopefully she won’t be hiding herself away when, rather than if, I run in 2012 in London. It will be a day I have spent all my life working towards.
Oscar is a BT Ambassador. Oscar will compete in the BT Paralympic World Cup on May 24 in Manchester. BT has become the title sponsor of the event for the next four years, demonstrating its long-term commitment to disability sport. Visit www.btparalympicworldcup.com
