Oscar Pistorius is not a household name, but he should be! Oscar is the disabled South African Olympic athlete who never quits! Although he failed to qualify for the 400m final he turned the tables on what it means to try no matter how difficult, or how great the odds may be against you.
Even though he didn’t qualify for the finals, Oscar has given hope to people with disabilities everywhere. His carbon fiber blades were peeling down the lane next to folks with legs and feet. Julie Morley, Director of Community Services at Disability Trust in the UK says Oscar’s Olympic run is a source of inspiration to people with disabilities everywhere, “It is tremendously helpful for people with physical disability who struggle with the everyday things normal people take for granted. It gives them something to aspire to, to say, ‘if he can do it I can.’”
The “blade runner” as Oscar has been called logged a semi-final heat time of 46.54. I have two legs and I couldn’t have even come close to what he accomplished. The 25-year old South African had his lower legs amputated when he was 11-months old and born without a fibula in both legs. Kirani James of Grenada, the world champion who battled Oscar in the first heat on Saturday said, “He is out here making history and we should all respect that and admire that.”
Yes we should Kirani, yes we should!
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