‘Blade Runner ‘ Oscar Pistorius against the Borlée brothers

At the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme on 16 September, Oscar Pistorius, the fastest athlete in the world "without legs", will compete against the Borléebrothers.

The 24-year old South African who was born without a fibula or tibia, had to have both feet amputated before he reached the age of one. He now runs with two special carbon-fiber prostheses. Because of these prostheses, he is called the "Blade Runner".

For a long time, the IAAF banned Pistorius from competing against "normal" athletes and his lap times were not officially approved. All of this was based on a study by a German professor who found that Pistorius was favored by those prosthetics. American researchers even estimated that Pistorius enjoys an advantage of even 10 seconds in the 400m!

But the people close to Pistorius did not accept the decision by the IAAF and in appeal were proved right by the TAS inLausanne. Ever since the South African regularly takes part in top level meetings and on 16.09 he will do so in Belgium, for the first time.

Oscar Pistorius has a personal best of 45.07 (run in Lignano (ITA) on 19 July). Currently only Kevin and Jonathan Borlée run faster…