Meet Oscar Pistorius
Friday 6 January 2012
Just before Christmas, club treasurer Graham Webb and his wife Christine visited relatives in South Africa and met paralympian superstar Oscar Pistorius ("Blade Runner"), who is a best friend of Chris's godson Christopher Oldnall.
Oscar had just flown home from Iceland, where he had been to discuss the development of his blades, which are manufactured there.
The “blade runner” was absolutely charming and was pleased to chat about himself. He was obviously delighted to see his school friend Christopher again and to catch up with the Oldnall family.
Q. How did he become best friend to Chris Oldnall?
A. They met on their first day at high school when Chris helped Oscar carry his schoolbag up the drive of Pretoria Boys High.
Q. When did he realise he was a talented athlete?
A. In the first year at high school he was the fastest in the year over 400m and 800m despite running with standard false legs. Chris, himself a keen sportsman, recognised Oscar’s talent and urged his dad to come and see this amazing boy running, the likes of which he had never seen before.
Q. How does he manage jetlag when competing on different continents?
A. He eats only nuts and raisins and drinks water during the flights and on reaching his destination has a hard training session before sleeping. He says he can sleep anywhere, any time after training.
Q. Does he plan to compete in both Paralympics and Olympics in London?
A. Oscar hopes to compete in both, but he has to run the South African qualifying time once more in 2012 ( he has run it twice in 2011)
Q. Would he consider a tattoo of the Olympic rings?
A. He has recently had a tattoo on his shoulder. It took 6 hours! It is words taken from the New Testament of the Bible (1 Corinthians Ch.9 Verses 24-27). After a number of requests off came his shirt; to the delight of all the ladies present!!!
Q. Would he be coming to Cardiff to the South African Paralympics preparation camp?
A. Oscar said his plans were to compete in the Diamond League in New York and then travel to his usual European base in Italy to prepare for the Olympics. If he does come to the camp in Cardiff it will be for only a couple of days. If he comes to Cardiff he will contact us and perhaps pay a visit to our club.
We should like to thank, Oscar for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet up with us. He was charming, far too good looking, and a real superstar !!!
Thanks also to Christopher Oldnall who was also a ‘super star ‘ for arranging this meeting for us.
Christopher Oldnall
Graham & Chris Webb
Thanks to Graham and Chris for this interesting piece.
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