Pistorius fails to make Olympic time

Lucerne, Switzerland: South Africa’s double amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius saw his hopes of running at the next month’s Olympic Games suffer a final blow here on Wednesday as he failed to record the minimum qualifying time for the 400 metres.

The 21-year-old, who still hopes to make it to the relay team, timed a personal best of 46.25 seconds but it was still well outside the standard qualifying time of 45.55sec.

Pistorius, who had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, could even see his hopes of running in the 4x400m relay dashed as the sport’s ruling body the International Association of Athletics Federations said they think he would endanger the other competitors.

"The decision by the Court of Arbitration in Sport which allowed Pistorius to compete with able-bodied runners applies to all athletics events. But if he runs in the pack (as in the relay apart from the first leg), there’s a risk that he or another athlete will fall," said IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss on Monday.

Pistorius, who holds the world records for the 100m, 200m and 400m Paralympic events, is nicknamed the "Blade Runner" because of his J-shaped carbon fibre prosthetic lower legs.

A legal battle ended in May when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ban on him competing with able-bodied athletes cost Pistorius precious training time.

Pistorius has already said that his ambition is to take part at the 2012 Olympics in London when he will only be 25.

— AFP