Oscar Pistorius has been selected to compete against able-bodied
athletes for South Africa at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South
Korea, on August 27.
Pistorius will be South Africa’s lone representative in the 400 m.
He was also named to the 4×400-m team.
In July, Pistorius clocked a personal best time at a meeting in Lignano,
Italy, to book his place on the team. Pistorius ran a time of 45.07 in the 400
m — his personal best by half a second — on what was the final day of
qualification for the world championships. He can also represent South Africa
at the 2012 London Olympics based on his 400-m time in Lignano.
“We selected all those athletes who fulfilled the qualification
criteria,” James Evans, South Africa Athletics president, stated in a
press release. “With 11 athletes competing for the first time at this
level, we are very clearly looking to 2012 and beyond. It is exciting to see
this kind of talent at our disposal for the next 4 years, and with an average
age of 24 years, this is quite healthy.”
