Running man – Pistorius is back!

Following a brush with near death in a boating accident, Oscar Pistorius talks to Paul Carter about getting his life and career back on track

On the 16th September last year, under the glare of the world’s attention, Oscar Pistorius crossed the finishing line in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium to claim his third gold of the 2008 Paralympic Games, his fifth Paralympic medal in total.

Having truly arrived on the world stage as one of the first superstars of disability sport to cross over into the mainstream public consciousness, life, it seemed, could not get much better for the athlete nicknamed “the fastest man on no legs”.

However, just five months later, the Blade Runner’s outlook suddenly appeared very different.

A serious speedboat accident on the Vaal River in his native South Africa left Oscar in a hospital bed, bloodied, bruised and with his jaw wired shut.

He was in a coma for three days.

“I hit a solid concrete pier that was 7cm under the water,” he explains. “We were going into the sunset and it was dusk so we couldn’t see it.

“We hit this thing at about 35km an hour, which is quite quick, and I hit my head against the steering wheel.”

The extent of Oscar’s injuries was shocking. The 22-year-old fractured his eye socket, jaw, nose, forehead, elbow and several ribs.

We meet three days before he is due to run in his first competitive races since his accident, the 100m and 400m at the Paralympic World Cup, itself a remarkable feat in such a small amount of time. There is little evidence of a man recovering from serious injuries, save for a couple of small scars on the back of his head that belie their seriousness.

“It was a serious injury but I’m feeling a lot better now, getting back into shape and feeling stronger.”

Oscar is a man used to overcoming challenges. Last year saw the culmination of a long running battle with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over his eligibility to compete in international competitions with non-disabled athletes.

The IAAF initially banned him from competing after running tests on his prosthetic blades, deeming that these awarded him “clear mechanical advantages.”

Oscar refused to accept the ruling, and took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the IAAF’s ruling.

“I don’t think the way the IAAF went about it was fair,” he says.

“They said that if they let amputees run, it’d be like letting people use jet-packs. It was small comments like that that weren’t fair but I can also understand where they’re coming from.

“When they did the tests I thought it was really important that we go and redo tests and prove that the prosthetic leg that I use, and that most of the top Paralympic athletes use, isn’t a performance enhancing piece of equipment. That was obviously something we had to do.”

The decision to allow him to compete with non-disabled people divided opinion among the disabled community.

While some were happy to see a disabled athlete competing on an even keel, many others were concerned that it would devalue Paralympic sport, or even reinforce the “two-tier” impression that disability sport has worked so hard to shift. Oscar is fiercely critical of this point of view.

“I think what you want at the end of the day is inclusion,” he says. “You don’t want to be distinguished. I think the Paralympics has a very important place in sports and I think it’s always important that it is there because it caters for sports that aren’t in the able-bodied mainstream, but I think if you can bridge the gap, then fine.

“Probably along the way I’ve encountered one or two athletes – just literally one or two – who haven’t been happy running against me, and it’s usually after I’ve beaten them!

“I think that at the level we compete at, it’s a good thing that we had to go through the IAAF saga because there would always have been an athlete or two that maybe had a question or queries, and having gone through that now they can say ‘if I lost against this guy it’s not because of his legs, it’s because I need to train harder’. If I lose a race I don’t look at other people and think ‘he’s doing better because he uses this or he uses that’. I go ‘I haven’t trained hard enough, I haven’t prepared, I wasn’t mentally strong enough, my reaction speed wasn’t quick enough.’ You look at yourself.”

As it turned out, Oscar failed to reach the Olympic qualifying time to run in Beijing with South Africa’s 400m squad.

Did that tinge his experience of the Paralympics with disappointment?

“I think it was disappointing at the time, but when I look back at the year I had such an amazing time at the Paralympics that it didn’t really matter.

“Although I’d like to compete in the Olympics one day, the Paralympics are just as important to me. I just thought, ‘well, I might not be able to be at the Olympics this time around but the Paralympics was awesome’.”

However, he admits that the pressure of expectation did take its toll.

“I think for me it was very tiring in a sense you know? When I was in Athens [in 2004] I didn’t really feel much pressure because I was the underdog; I’d only been running for eight months and it was all very new.

“But I definitely felt a lot more pressure being in Beijing, it was a lot more difficult.

“Obviously the goals we had were a lot more hectic, but then I got sick after the 100m and then really sick after the 200m so I was really not feeling up for anything, but then the 400m race was awesome.

“It was so great to finish off; it was the last race in the Bird’s Nest. It was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen, 94,000 people. I was super-psyched, it was just mad, but when I crossed that last line I was just thinking ‘you know, I’m really glad this competition this year is over, it’s been extremely long’. It was awesome but it was pretty tiring.”

After the media coverage of his battles with the IAAF, an ill-fated televised race against non-disabled athletes in Sheffield, and his successes in Beijing at the Paralympics, few could argue that Oscar is now one of the most recognisable disabled people in the world, with a popularity that transcends beyond sport.

When I ask him if he is comfortable with being a role model, there is a noticeable awkward shift in his seat.

“I always laugh when people ask me that! I don’t know. Obviously I know there’s responsibility that comes with being in the limelight of sports and stuff. I don’t think it’s really hit me that I’m in the position that I’m in.

“I’m just very grateful to be an athlete and be good at what I do, one of the worst things would be to have to look back at a career and say you haven’t achieved your utmost potential.

“I think there are so many role models that are doing a lot for Paralympic sport, and if I can be a part of that and be a piece of the puzzle then I’m very happy to do that.”

Following the Paralympic World Cup, Oscar reveals he has a busy schedule, with races lined up in Italy, Spain, Scotland, Norway, Greece and France – all but one of which are non-disabled meets.

“Then I think I’m going to take a break and go home for a couple of weeks,” he smiles.
Home is the South African capital, Johannesburg, where he was born and raised, the middle child, with a younger sister (Aimee) and an older brother (Carl).

He says that awareness of disability in his homeland is “getting there” and has improved in recent years, but concedes that there is still room for improvement.

When the subject turns to awareness and education of children, Oscar’s eyes light up, and he speaks with conviction and passion.

“Someone didn’t agree with me the other day when I said, ‘if I see a kid in a supermarket staring at my prosthetic legs I’ll go up to the kid and I’ll say ‘hi, my name’s Oscar and I’ve got artificial legs. The reason I have this is because of not having tibia or fibula in my legs and I live a very normal life.’

“I think if you make kids aware they’re not going to stare and they’re going to be like, ‘oh there’s a guy with prosthetic legs, there’s a guy with normal legs, there’s a guy in a wheelchair.’

“I’ve only ever met one or two people out of the literally thousands of disabled people I’ve met who aren’t prepared to talk about their disability.

I think that’s where it needs to be where people are aware of disability.”

For a man who has achieved so much considering he only began running eight months before his first Paralympic appearance in 2004, what are the future ambitions?

“I’m looking forward to London 2012 now and hopefully doing the 100m, 200m and 400m again there, and just to stay on the top of my game. It’s not pressure from anyone, it’s just pressure from yourself, you know? There are always new guys coming up and as quickly as I came into the sport the next guy could, so I’m just enjoying what I do, training and using my ability to the best and not wasting it.”

Somehow, that seems unlikely to happen.