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Pistorius fails in Olympic bid
16/07/2008 21:45 - (SA)
Lucerne - Double amputee
sprinter Oscar Pistorius said he was happy with his season's
achievements on Wednesday despite missing out in his last bid to
qualify for the 400m at next month's Beijing Olympics.
Pistorius, 21, set a personal best time of 46.25 seconds to
finish third in a field of able-bodied athletes at the Spitzen
Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne but was 0.70 seconds short of
the 45.55 seconds qualifying standard for the Games.
"I said at the start of the season that I'd be extremely
happy just to be running times I was comfortable with, whether I
made it to the Olympics or not," Pistorius said after soaking up
loud applause from the Swiss crowd.
"Tonight was certainly one of those times."
The South African athlete, who successfully appealed to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for his right to compete
with able-bodied athletes, said he was still hoping to be
selected for his country's 4x100m relay squad.
"If you look at the individual time it was always going to
be a difficult task after only being back on the track for about
nine weeks now, but there is still the relay.
"It's up to the (South African) federation but I know there
are one or two guys hoping to make the squad who have not done
as good as 46.25 this year so I'll just have to see when I get
home."
Pistorius was controversially banned from competing in
January by the athletics governing body the IAAF who argued that
the carbon fibre blades he runs on gave Pistorius an advantage
over able-bodied athletes.
Pistorius succeeded in having the ban overturned by CAS
which criticised the tests carried out by the IAAF to measure
the runner's performance levels.
Following the announcement of the CAS verdict in May, the
South African athletics federation agreed to extend Pistorius's
qualifying deadline to July 17.
Pistorius said on Wednesday that he expected to hear the
final decision on the relay selections by Sunday.
- Reuters
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