What is his Storious?

I was a big fan of the Paralympics last year, moreso than the Olympics themselves. I don't know if it was Australia won more medals, if the coverage was better on the ad-free ABC, or if the constant swimming replays and lack of diversity bored me on Channel 9 or a combination of all of the above, but either way I was addicted to the games for those couple of weeks and watched as much as I possibly could.

In the last day or so the news that Oscar Pistorious had murdered his girlfriend has filtered down the media. I was as shocked as the next person, but have to say, am not one of Oscar's biggest fans. I am of the school that believe that he should not be able to race in the normal Olympics - at least not with the carbon fiber blades that he uses. It is a significant advantage in my mind and whilst I have sympathy for him being born without fibulas, do not believe that it is a level playing field if he competes.

That leads me to his tirade after he lost the 200m final at the Paralympics. He all but called his opponent a cheat for having better prosthetics, particularly as his opponent was an above the knee amputee. I think Oscar had a point, however, he should have targeted the people in charge of defining regulation instead of his opponent. There was an obvious sense of double standard and a general lack of sportsmanship, particularly as if Oscar had ran the same time as he did in the heats, he would have won gold. He later apologised, however, it felt like the true Oscar has let himself out of the bag and it was a lasting memory for me.

It is sad that someone seen as such a role model is capable of murdering someone. I hope for his sake and the sake of his fans that there is a logical reason why this occurred, even if it is not justified. I'm sure he will feel a great sense of remorse for what he has done and hope that some good can come out of it - maybe SA can get some gun reform or Oscar can reform himself and be a different kind of role model.