THE WEEKEND BITE online: ‘NO EXCUSE’ SERIES - EPISODE 1

Hello there, I hope you've had a splendid weekend so far. I started a series not too long ago tagged ‘No excuse’, which was exclusive to ‘THE WEEKEND BITE', a weekly inspirational message available to BBM users. I have decided to bring this platform online, so that more people can benefit from it. The idea of the series is to do a case study on the lives of a certain individuals who despite limitations, have defied all odds and risen to be successful in their various fields; to learn from them and to encourage ourselves to achieve our desires & pursue our goals. This weekend, we look at 25 year old South-African born Oscar Pistorius a.k.a Blade runner/ the fastest man on no legs. Oscar had a double amputation i.e. on both legs when he was 11 months old, having been born without a fibula in any of them.

Despite his disability, Oscar was actively engaged in sports while he was growing up and after a rugby knee injury, he was introduced to running during his rehabilitation programme. With some support of his family, he began to run. After seeing him on the track, many would say running is his true calling. Prior to the 2012 London Paralympics this extra-ordinary man had enjoyed being the world record holder for class T44 in the 100m, 200m and 400 m events; running with the aid of Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs by Össur. At the Paralympics, he competed with his peers for years, but in 2007, he took part in his first international competition for able-bodied athletes.

Some believed that his artificial lower legs gave him an unfair advantage over able-bodied runners; which in addition to several tests & monitoring of his track performance led to his ban by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on 14 January 2008. He was ruled ineligible for competitions conducted under its rules, including the 2008 Summer Olympics. He didn't give up! Subsequently, this decision was reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 16 May 2008. Though he did not qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Bejing, he went on to win gold medals at the 2008 summer paralympic games in the 100, 200 & 400 metres (T44) Sprints.

At the 2011 World championships, he became the first amputee to win an able bodied track medal, as part of South Africa's silver medal-winning relay team. On 4 August 2012, at the London Olympics, he became d first double-leg amputee ever to participate in d Olympic Games when he entered the men's 400m race. The 25-year old South-African, shocked the world when he finished 2nd in his 400m heat race in a time of 45.44 s, and made it to the semi-final. Although, he finished eighth in the semi-final, his mere participation and determination remains a clear inspiration to many. According to Oscar, “This has been one of the best experiences of my life. Just being out in front of this crowd, 70,000 felt like 170,000, was an unbelievable experience.” It was amazing to see the world champion Gren Grenada's Kirani James, walk up to him and swap name bibs with him after the race, with the resolve to keep same.

He also competed in the 4 x 400m relay heat which had a lot of controversy as Oscar and another South-African racing on the third and fourth legs respectively never received the baton from their teammate Ofense Mogatwane racing on the second leg, who had a collision with the Kenyan team. Fortunately, after appeals were made, they were allowed to race in the finals, finishing in the eighth position at a time of 3:03.86.

At the recently concluded Paralympic Games also in London, Oscar was there to defend his titles in the 100m, 200m and 400m races. Oscar set a T43 world record of 21.30 seconds in the semi-final of the 200m race, and took the silver medal in the final, after Brazilian Alan Olivera took gold. This was a shock to many, including Oscar, as this was his first competitive loss over the distance in nine years but he soon shook it off and concentrated on the rest of the competition. He and his teammates thereafter succeeded at breaking the world record, in the 4x100m relay and taking the title in a world record time of 41.78s. Also, after a very competitive race, he finished fourth in the 100m race with a season’s best time of 11.17s. The grand finale of all races in the Paralympics was the 400m race, and Oscar took the day when he won the race and title by a wide margin and set a new Paralympic record of 46.68s.

This champion contested in 11 races and successfully bagged two Paralympic gold medals, Paralympic silver, two world records, a Paralympic record, an Olympic individual semi-final and an Olympic final. Even with his disability, other issues like his parents' divorce when he was six or his mother’s death when he was 15, or even his subsequent estrangement from his Father could have kept him back, but Oscar saw such things as mere challenges common to man and resolved to surmount them all. Today, the song sung of Oscar Pistorius is not one of defeat or weakness; rather its one of victory, strength, determination and inspiration.

His message to you simply is “You are not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have”. Oscar Pistorius did not have any excuse not to pursue his dreams despite all odds, neither do u!

Just do it!

Cheers!




© September, 2012 by Lola Agbaje-Williams.

References: www.oscarpistorius.com, Wikipedia, joeweber.org, News online on Olympics and Paralympics).