Who is Oscar Pistorius? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Nick Name: Oz, Blade Runner, the fastest man on no legs,

Also Known As: Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius

Age: 37 Years, 37 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Reeva Steenkamp

father: Henke Pistorius

mother: Sheila Pistorius

siblings: Aimée Pistorius, Carl Pistorius

Born Country: South Africa

Athletes Murderers

Height: 1.6 m

More Facts

education: University Of Pretoria

awards: 2007 - BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award
2012 - Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
2006 - Order of Ikhamanga
2012 - Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award

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Childhood & Early Life

Oscar Pistorius is the second of three children of his parents, Sheila Pistorius and Henke. He was born on the 22nd of November, 1986 in the Transvaal province of South Africa.

The toddler faced a major challenge when he was diagnosed with a medical condition known as ‘Fibular Hemimelia’. Both his legs had to be amputated due to this syndrome which is rarely seen in infants.

The boy then completed his education by studying at institutions at ‘Constantia Kloof Primary School’ and ‘Pretoria Boys High School’. He even played rugby while studying at ‘Pretoria Boys’. He even tried wrestling, water Polo and tennis during this time.

Oscar continued pursuing rugby until 2003, when he hurt himself severely during one of the games, due to which he was forced to stop playing the sport.

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Career

During early 2004, Pistorius happened to meet a coach named Ampie Louw and a prosthetist named Francois Van Der Watt. The two men encouraged Pistorius to try running.

Van der Watt even helped Oscar get customized running blades which suit him the best, thus, started his career as a runner.

The same year, he participated in the ‘2004 Summer Paralympics’ event, in which he achieved a remarkable feat of securing the 3rd position in the 100 metre running event.

Pistorius returned to studies in 2006, when he started pursuing a degree in Business Management from the ‘University of Pretoria’.

2005 was an eventful year in Oscar’s career as a runner. He participated in the ‘Paralympic World Cup’ as well as the able-bodied ‘South African Championships’ this year.

He managed to cover a distance of 400 metres in just 47.34 seconds, in the able-bodied South African championship event, for which he was widely praised.

In 2007, he participated in ‘Nedbank Championship’ as well as ‘South African Senior Athletics Championship’ events respectively. Pistorius created history by emerging victorious in the 100, 200 and 400 metre events respectively and finish in durations such as 10.91 seconds.

Pistorius was criticized by the ‘International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF)’ for using customized prosthetic legs for running. It was alleged that the specially-made J-shaped artificially legs gave the runner more edge over other athletes.

‘IAAF’ concluded that allowing Pistorius to participate in future events would be unfair to other athletes. However, a determined Oscar appealed to the ‘Court of Arbitration for Sport’ in early 2008, against this decision. The outcome of this appeal was positive and Pistorius could continue running again.

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Although Oscar achieved great milestones in such a short span, his aspiration to participate in the ‘2008 Summer Olympics’ to be held at Beijing, China was turned down by a sports committee of South Africa. However, he participated in the ‘2008 Summer Paralympics’ event held that year

In early 2011, Oscar participated in an athletic event in New Zealand and emerged victorious. He even took part in the ‘Paralympic World Cup’ held that year and proved that he’s one of the best sprinters in the world through his performance.

Pistorius took part in the ‘Summer Olympics’ held at London in 2012. His participation in the event made him the first amputee to compete in the games.

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Awards and Achievements

This athlete was honoured with the ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award’ in 2007.

Oscar was one among the 100 individuals who secured a spot in the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ list of ‘Time’ magazine.

In 2012, Pistorius was honoured with a ‘Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year With a Disability’, for his dedication towards running. He was also supposed to be one of the recipients of the ‘Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award’, but didn’t fetch it due to unforeseen reasons.

Personal Life & Legacy

Oscar’s popularity soon made him the face of leading companies of the world such as ‘Nike’ and ‘Oakley’. He even endorsed a perfume called ‘A

Men’, which is a product of the firm ‘Thierry Mugler’.

The year 2008 saw the release of an Italian version of the athlete’s biography titled ‘Dream Runner’, another version in English reached the public the following year.

Pistorius faced a setback in his personal life when he was arrested for shooting his girlfriend and model Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013. He later claimed that the act wasn’t deliberate and Oscar accidentally attacked his wife in a bid to get rid of a burglar.

He was granted bail later that year, since the judiciary found that it was not an intentional murder.

In 2014, the athlete was imprisoned for five years after being charged for committing the act of culpable homicide.

Oscar Pistorius Biography