Double-amputee Oscar Pistorius is not in good enough shape to run an Olympic qualifying time yet but will attempt it in July, his manager said on Wednesday.
The South African can try to qualify for August’s Beijing Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled last week that he could compete in able-bodied events because the carbon-fibre blades attached to both legs did not give him an advantage.
Pistorius will spend the rest of May and June working hard towards the task of clocking the 400m Olympic qualifying time of 45,55 seconds by training and competing in a series of Paralympic events.
His personal best is 46,33 seconds.
”Oscar’s not in any kind of shape to compete at the elite level at the moment, so he and his coach are going to get out of the limelight and concentrate on training and working hard,” manager Peet van Zyl said.
”He’ll be running in the 100m, 200m and 400m events in … [four] … Paralympic meetings.”
Pistorius will turn his attention to taking on able-bodied runners at races in Milan on July 2 and Lucerne on July 16, and at the Golden League meeting Rome on July 11.
Athletes have until late July to qualify for the Olympics. — Reuters