Oscar Pistorius, South Africa’s double amputee track sensation, is pinning his final hopes of a ticket to the Olympics on the 400m relay after failing to qualify for the individual event.
The 21-year-old, who runs on prosthetic blades, recorded a personal best of 46,25 seconds in Lucerne on Wednesday night but it was not enough for an automatic seat on the plane to Beijing as he was outside the qualifying time.
Pistorius is now awaiting a decision at the end of the month by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) as to whether they would include him in a 4x400m relay team.
”If you look at the individual time it was always going to be a difficult task after only being back on the track for about nine weeks now, but there is still the relay,” Pistorius told South African reporters.
”It’s up to Sascoc now, but I know there are one or two guys hoping to make the squad who have not done as good as 46,25 this year so I’ll just have to see when I get home.”
Sascoc announced their track and field team last week, but have left a door open for athletes, including Pistorius, to qualify. Sascoc has not yet decided whether to take a relay team to Beijing, but Pistorius’s personal best time may be enough to earn him a place in that squad if they do.
”Track and field athletes who qualify according to the IAAF A standard until July 22 may still be submitted to Sascoc for inclusion in the final team,” said a Sascoc statement.
”The final IOC deadline for athletes to qualify is July 31. Any athlete who qualifies according to the required standard of Sascoc between July 23 and July 31, will have to have their names submitted and motivated to the IOC for inclusion in the final team.”
In May, Pistorius won a court battle to overturn an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ban that stopped him competing against able-bodied athletes.
He admitted then he would struggle to make the qualifying time for Beijing as the legal fight had affected his training, saying that the London Olympics in 2012 was a more realistic target. – AFP
