Double amputee athlete aims for Olympics

Three years ago Oscar Pistorius had never stepped onto a track, let alone run a race.

Today he is an athletics sensation - holder of world records in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.

But Oscar's Olympic bid is like no other - he is a double amputee.



At birth he was missing bones below the knee.

After his legs were removed, at the age of one, he learnt to walk on prosthetics, and he believes this pushed him to excel.

On the track, they call him "blade runner" - thanks to his carbon fibre prosthetics, custom-made in Iceland.



Oscar's next challenge is the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester next month, but he is looking ahead to Beijing in 2008.

But the world body governing athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has already moved to block him from the Olympics, with a new ruling banning "technical aids".

Oscar says his critics are only looking at the advantages of the blades - "if there are any" - and not the disadvantages. "There's never been a disabled athlete running in the Olympics," he says. "There's a fear of change."