2012 Olympic Games: Blade Runner Oscar Pistorius sets sights on 400m world ...

by Mike Walters, Daily Mirror 21/07/2011

SEND him victorious, Oscar Pistorius, quicker than a London bus, the fastest man on no legs.

Pistorius, the double amputee 400 metres sensation nicknamed Blade Runner, stormed through the gateway to London 2012 by smashing his personal best in Italy on Tuesday.

After clocking 45.07secs in Lignano, Italy – shaving more than half a second off his previous record – Pistorius dipped inside the qualifying time for both next month’s world championships in South Korea and the Olympics.

Now the 24-year-old South African is in line to become the first sprinter to compete for both Olympic and Paralympic gold and Pistorius tweeted: “Can’t sleep I’m so happy. I have a dumb smile that’s permanent. Feels kind of surreal to have qualification time in the bag for next year’s Olympics.”

Until his record lap, Pistorius ranked only fourth among South Africa’s 400m contenders, but his time in Lignano would have been enough for fifth place in Beijing three years ago and fourth at the world championships in Berlin in 2009.

On his last visit to London, the Blade Runner dropped in on the 2012 stadium and settled into the blocks as an aspiring Olympian, now he has genuine hopes of an unprecedented Olympic and Paralympic double.

Pistorius, who runs on carbon fibre blades costing £15,000, is world record holder over 100, 200 and 400 metres in ­Paralympic events.

Three years ago he won a case against the International Amateur Athletics Federation, who tried to ban him from able-bodied competition, claiming his artificial limbs gave him an unfair advantage.

Pistorius produced scientific evidence showing he was running at a disadvantage because he had no calf muscles and a lesser supply of oxygenated blood.

Now his dream of becoming the fastest man over 400m is hurtling into view and he told Mirror Sport: “I can’t wait to come back and compete in London. My goal is to be the fastest man on the planet, and I would love to set a new world record at London 2012.

“The British people love their sport and I know they will generate a fantastic atmosphere for the athletes.

“If they ever found evidence I was gaining an unfair advantage, I would stop running. I would not want to compete at the top level if I knew the cards were stacked in my favour.

“But it would be something special for me to race in the Olympic 400m next year. That’s extremely important for me.”

Pistorius is blessed with a sense of humour which often distinguishes amputees from the able-bodied.

He said: “I’m not disabled – I just don’t have any legs. I had both limbs amputated below the knee as a baby because I was born without a fibula due to a congenital condition.

“My situation is never going to change, so the best way to handle my condition is with humour, and I learned to do that at an early stage.

“When I was at boarding school, my mates used to play jokes on me. I would wake up in the dormitory every morning and the first thing I had to do was to look for my legs!

“Those experiences soon teach you the value of humility, and I have tried to carry that attitude on to the track.

“I wish I had started racing in Paralympic competition sooner than I did because it taught me the importance of doing your best, not winning at all costs.”

Oscar Pistorius is a BT ambassador. He will be sharing his London 2012 experience through the BT Storytellers campaign at www.bt.com/storytellers

'Can't' not in amputee's vocabulary

Palm Desert High grad Scout Bassett to compete in New York triathlon
For athlete Scout Bassett, an amputee almost since birth, getting to play sports has been as much a challenge as the sports themselves, with coaches and teammates telling her she could never be a serious competitor.

Rather than defeat her, those challenges made her stronger and more determined to prove her disability didn't define her.
“I was always welcome to practice with the team, but not compete and it was very difficult growing up,” Bassett said.
The 22-year-old Palm Desert High School graduate is among more than 3,000 athletes who will be competing in the Nautica New York City Triathlon on Aug. 7 in New York.
This is Bassett's fifth trip to the triathlon. She races in the severe leg impairment category.

Competitors swim just under a mile in Hudson Bay, bike 24.85 miles on the Henry Hudson Parkway and run 6.2 miles in Central Park.
In preparation for this year, Bassett has been working with a full-time personal trainer and triathlon coach.

“I'm really excited more than in past years because I really dedicated myself this year,” Bassett said.

Bassett was just under a year old when she lost her right leg in a fire. Shortly after, she was left on the doorstep of a government orphanage in Nanjing, China. She remained at the orphanage until she was 7.

“We are not certain of the circumstances surrounding the incident — where, when, how, why, etc. I arrived at the Nanjing Orphanage at the age of 1 with severe burns on both legs, but the fire only took my right leg from above the knee down,” she said.

Consistently passed over by couples preferring to adopt children with full physical abilities, she began to wonder if she would ever leave the orphanage.
Then in 1994, Joe and Susi Bassett, a young couple from Michigan, visited the orphanage to pick up a 16-month-old child they had adopted through Bethany Christian Services Adoption Agency.

Touring the orphanage, the then 6-year-old girl caught Susi Bassett's eyes.
The older children were seated around a table having a snack, the Bassetts recall in a short biography of Scout on YouTube. Susi Bassett looked to her right and “a little girl looked up at me and I said, ‘Oh, my god, she needs me. I've just got to have her,'” she recalled.


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At the same time, a young boy who sang to them as they walked into the room caught Joe Bassett's attention. Ten months later, after the paperwork was completed, they returned to China to bring both children home.

“I didn't know she was missing a leg because she was sitting at the table and I said, ‘That's just all the more reason she needs me,'” Susi Bassett said.
Fairy tale lifeLife since has been amazing, Scout Bassett said, though not without challenges brought on by what many saw as a disability.
She arrived in the U.S. and saw kids playing in youth soccer and softball and wanted to join them.

“I saw it as something that transcends language and other barriers,” she said.
But there were other barriers placed in front of her due to her missing leg.
“It wasn't until my experience with sports that I realized my disability would be a hindrance,” she said.

It was late in high school when that started to change. But along the way, she had started to question her abilities, she said.

“I was starting to believe what they were saying, that I never would be good enough to compete and that I belonged on the sidelines,” Bassett said.
“I credit my parents for teaching me not to feel self-pity and not treating me differently from their other two kids who are able-bodied,” she said.
Bassett also didn't want to give the coaches and players the satisfaction of feeling they had beaten her down. So rather than quitting, she found her determination and continued to prove herself.

Revisiting the pastAfter the Nautica triathlon, Bassett will compete in the ITU World Triathlon Championships, which will take her back to China for the first time since she was adopted, nearly 15 years ago.

“It will be an emotional trip for sure,” she said.
She said she plans to visit the orphanage where she hopes her story will help encourage and inspire other young girls there not to give up hope.
“As an orphan, I never thought I would leave or thought if I did I would be living on the streets.

“So living here and competing in triathlons is something I could never ever have dreamt about,” she said.
Her parents live in Palm Desert along with her brother and sister. They moved to the desert in 2006. Bassett attended Palm Desert High her senior year and was on the golf team.

She expects to graduate from UCLA after the fall quarter with a degree in anthropology.

“I really think that everything in my life happened because of incredible support of family, coaches, mentors and advisers.
“This has definitely been a team effort. All success in my life I share with all who have been a part of this journey,” she said.

Post-op gymnast is leg-cellent

The incredible footage shows the 21-year-old perform circular spins and back flips while wearing a prosthetic leg.

Plucky Adam, from Minnesota, then removes the leg to practise landing on one leg while performing somersaults.

Adam lost his leg after suffering lymphangiosarcoma, a rare cancer of lymphatic vessels, and he made the hit video to inspire others with disabilities.

He said: "I was hoping to show my friends and family what I was able to do again, but I also hoped that other amputees would enjoy it. I've been inspired by videos of other amputees on YouTube, such as Sarah Reinertsen."

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