If Natalie du Toit has been the pearl of the pool in Beijing these past three days, then Oscar Pistorius became the titan of the track after taking the 100m sprint - the blue-ribbon event of the Paralympics - in the most dramatic fashion last night.
While Usain Bolt had time to primp, preen and pose when he took gold in the Olympics last month, there was no time for the Bladerunner to think as he was forced to recover from a slow start to beat America's Jerome Singleton by just three-hundredths of a second. American Brian Frasure was third, while defending champion Marlon Shirley, a single-leg amputee, fell in a heap in the second half of the race as his good leg "popped".
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South African single-leg amputee Arnu Fourie was fourth.
When Pistorius looked out of his window at the athletes' village yesterday morning he would have groaned. The heavens had opened overnight and a constant drizzle fell on the Olympic precinct. The 100m was already going to be the hardest of his three events. They don't make wet-weather tyres for his prosthetic limbs yet, and as the only double-leg amputee with no ankle to push against from the blocks, he was always going to be the catch-up kid here.
"That was probably the worst start I've ever had," said Pistorius, who won with a time of 11,17 seconds. "I just thought to myself that the first 30m were terrible and I'd better get it right in the final 70m.
"I was nervous coming into this race, but thankfully I caught a big wake-up call. It's lucky I have a high top speed."
Pistorius's gold was South Africa's fifth of the Games, giving them an overall total of six. Du Toit leads the charge with two. On Monday, Charl Bouwer, the shy visually impaired 18-year-old, chipped in with gold in the 400m freestyle, while Philippa Johnson won her dressage class.
A dramatic victory brought to an end a dramatic week for Pistorius after he had spoken out on how he felt the athletics team were being treated without due care and respect. A truce was called, due respect given, and on Tuesday night Pistorius showed no signs of harbouring ill feelings. He was bubbly and full of laughter - even though he'd made an old man cry.
Ampie Louw, his coach, shed tears of joy last night. "That was pretty good to see," laughed Pistorius. "I usually cause him tears of frustration.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on September 10, 2008
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