Homework Part B

Part B:

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius was born on 22 November 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. His hometown is Pretoria, South Africa. I choose Oscar Pistorius because he really inspired me because he has a lot of determination and represents all 5 values in the Olympic values.

When Oscar was 11 months old he had his double below-knee amputated. He has congenital absence of the fibula in both legs. At the age of 16 Oscar took up track running to aid his rehabilitation and began training under the guidance of Coach Ampie Louw at the Sports Science Institute at the University of Pretoria.

After a few months in the gym, Oscar took part in his first track session on New Year's Day, 2004. Three weeks later he entered a school 100 meters race on the prompting of one of his teachers and won in a time of 11.72 seconds. After the race his father looked up how Oscar's time compared to the best in the world and He discovered that his 17-year-old son's time was faster than the existing Paralympic world record of 12.20s.

Eight months after first stepping onto the track, the South African created a sensation in the athletics world by winning the 200m gold medal at the Athens Paralympics, breaking the world record with a time of 21.97s. He also returned home with a bronze medal in the 100m and overnight was propelled onto front and back pages around the world.

I think Oscar displays all of the 5 Olympics values. I think he displays Pursuit of Excellence because he has gone over and above his disability to compete with average athletes. He also displays Joy and Effort because he has challenged himself to do the impossible against all odds. He displays Fair play because he plays fair when he is running and doesn’t use drugs to help him win. He has respect for others because in the London Olympics even though he did not win the 400m final he still congratulated everybody who he was competing against and had a very positive attitude toward his performance. Balance between Mind, Body and Character by using his Mind, Body and Character he is running like an able bodied human and is not using is disability as an excuse.

In conclusion I think Oscar Pistorius is a very inspiring man and symbolizes all the Olympic values and is a great person.