An Inspiration from London Olympics

In the 2011 Track & field World Championships there was a runner from South Africa who qualified for the semi-finals of the 400 meters by finishing third in his heat. He then went on to qualify for the semi – finals of the 2012 London Olympics…

This doesn’t seem like a great achievement until you get to know that Oscar had both of his legs amputated when he was one-year-old. An inspirational story.

An Inspiration from London Olympics

By Rucha Pujari

Oscar Pistorius, also known as Blade Runner is the “fastest man on no legs.”

It was a sunny Saturday in London. Thousands of people had gathered to watch the 400m Olympic event, cheering for their favorites. But this time most of them had came to see Oscar run. Run into History.

The first amputee to compete in track at the Olympics, Oscar’s fight to reach to this point has often felt more like a marathon than a sprint. “I’ve worked for six years… to get my chance,” said the South African. And he looked into the stands, saw his friends and family there – including his 89 year old grandmother, who was carrying the South African flag.

Pistorius is an accomplished runner, with four Paralympic gold medals, but he waged a long fight to run in the Olympics against able-bodied opponents.

Twenty four years after a year-old baby had his legs amputated in a South African hospital after being born without fibulae, that same child had grown into one of the world’s fastest 400-meter runners.

He dared to dream. Dream Big.

Don’t compare yourself with anybody just keep challenging yourself, and make sure that you are a better player than you were yesterday.

Oscar Pistorius’s story is one of those stories that is every bit as much about the journey - one part dramatic, another part inspiring and yet another part controversial - as the final result.

The best day of his competitive life, Pistorius was not asked how many other children born without limbs he made feel whole again. Instead: Does a man with two ultra-light prosthetics have an unfair competitive advantage over able-bodied competitors?

Here is a young man who despite significant obstacles has worked incredibly hard, not taken no for an answer, ignored the critics who would try to stop him and has managed to achieve phenomenal success in his chosen field of endeavor.

From now on, when it all gets too hard and you’re tempted to feel sorry for yourself, remember Oscar. The man himself has this motto, “You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.”

There’s little doubt that Oscar Pistorius has managed to maximize his abilities and he inspires us all to do the same.