Oscar Pistorius with a spring in his step

According to IOL, South Africa’s fasted man on no legs - and the nicest athlete you could hope to meet - will be running at the 400m in the Golden League in Rome today (20:45 on SS2). He will also compete at the British Grand Prix in Sheffield on Sunday (18:45 on SS5). This is great news, since it’s the first time the IAAF has permitted him to compete against able-bodied athletes internationally. He’s done so in South Africa earlier this year, at the Senior South African National Championships, where he won a silver medal. The IAAF mandarins will study video footage of his action to determine whether he could qualify for the able-bodied Olympics in Beijing next year.

I don’t usually write about sport, but he uses really cool carbon fibre blades known as Cheetah Flex Sprint IIIs for running. They’re made by a specialist company in Iceland, named Össur. Though he’s still a fraction off the qualifying times for the ultimate athletics event, some think a spring in his step is exactly what he has. Granted, for a fellow with no legs, he’s very fast, but he far outruns other disabled athletes using exactly the same equipment. Össur claims: “The Cheetah is the favourite choice of a large majority of professional athletes.” This strongly suggests his advantage isn’t due to his feet.

Still, 100m world record holder Asafa Powell has never heard of him. Here’s hoping that changes.