Oscar Pistorius and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp pose for a picture in Johannesburg, Feb. 7, 2013. (THEMBANI MAKHUBELE/Reuters)
Reeva Steenkamp is seen in this undated handout picture released by Capacity Relations on Feb. 14, 2013. South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged Thursday with shooting Steenkamp dead at his home home in Pretoria. (Reuters/Capacity Relations/Handout)
Reeva Steenkamp is seen in this undated handout picture released by Capacity Relations on Feb. 14, 2013. South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged Thursday with shooting Steenkamp dead at his home home in Pretoria. (Reuters/Capacity Relations/Handout)
South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius (right) is escorted by police at a Pretoria police station, Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria. (Reuters/Stringer)
South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius (right) is escorted by police at a Pretoria police station, Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria. (Reuters/Stringer)
Police crime scene tape marks off the Pretoria home of South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius will appear in court Friday after being charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (ANDREA ETTWEIN/Reuters)
Report an error
Oscar Pistorius apologized. He arrived late after the best of his Olympic moments, soaking everything in, leaning up against a fence beneath the stands of the great London stadium, with an explanation most reporters had never heard before.
?Sorry,? he said, his eyes surveying this once-in-a-lifetime scene. ?I had to change my legs.?
We laughed. We smiled. We - and the rest of the world - soaked it all in. ?He is magic,? my friend Christie Blatchford wrote for the National Post. ?Lit from within.? And at an Olympic Games so full of remarkable, so full of wonder, the story of the Blade Runner from South Africa competing on carbon-fibre legs, became the inspirational focal point of the Summer Games.
He stood and talked about his life, his journey, his apparent handicap, his immense goals, for as long as anyone would talk back to him. He didn?t want the moment to end. He wanted to keep talking, keep smiling, keep telling his tale.
He was a Lance Armstrong kind of hero, with a gentler exterior, a self-deprecating sense of humor, an engaging personality, and seemingly impossible to dislike.
And now, once again, we don?t know what to think about another athlete who may not be what we thought he was. It seems lately, too often when we hope someone is what we see, what we believe him to be, we find out differently. We find out there is a wide separation between athletic performer and person, between a sporting life and what happens behind closed doors. We find out how little we really know about anyone.
We may find out that Oscar Pistorius, hero in London, is a murderer.
Just like we found that O.J. Simpson was a murderer. And Lance Armstrong was a liar and a bully and cheat. And Tiger Woods had no soul or no conscience. And on and on it goes. From sport to sport, athlete to athlete: You don?t fall in love with the person, you fall in love with what he is doing, with the story, with his pursuit.
In recent times, Nike had used Armstrong, Tiger, Joe Paterno as celebrities to sell product. And also it employed Pistorius, with a slogan about him being a bullet. It hasn?t been the best of times for Nike, but moreso for those it chose to celebrate.
The story broke out of South Africa late Wednesday night. That Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius? girlfriend, had been shot dead at Oscar?s home. Apparently shot four times. The original story, without police attribution, indicated Pistorius believed he was being burglarized and responded with gunfire.
The police have since distanced themselves from that theory, which was never theirs. Spokeperson Brigadier Denise Beukes said there was no truth to the burglary story at all. And before she made her public statements, Oscar Pistorius had been charged with murder in the death of the woman police would not identify until first of kin had identified the body.
The women being the model, Steenkamp, described Thursday as ?an angel on earth.? as Pistorius? longtime girlfriend.
All police would confirm is that there had been a shooting at Pistorius? house, that there were only two people home at the time and one was dead, the other arraigned. Pistorius covered his head with a hoodie as he was led out of his home by police.
Beukes also indicated that there had been previous stops at the Pistorius home for matters of domestic violence. She also said police would oppose any bail for former national hero.
This is mid-February, just six months since Pistorius celebrated the greatest days of his life. The only guns heard at the Olympic Stadium were those that started races, like Pistorius? runs in the 400 metres, the first disabled athlete racing alongside able bodied men before he would later win gold in the Paralympics. But at the Olympics, there had never been races like this before, with both controversy and wonder and in the end, joy from Pistorius and joy from those he ran against.
?He is amazing,? Byshon Nellum, the American sprinter said. ?I?m definitely inspired by this guy...This guy is out here doing this. I think he?ll inspire a generation not to give up on their dreams.?
That was August, this is now. The inspiration will be forgotten in time. The self-described ?mind-blowing experience? of the Olympics seems so long ago, lost the way our admiration for Pistorius will now be lost.
?What?s important,? said runner Kirani James of Grenada, ?is that he?s a good person. That trumps everything else.? We thought what James thought but we found out, once again, and all too often, we never really know.
twitter.com/simmonssteve
?
Source: http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/02/14/oscar-pistorius-another-fallen-sports-hero
Target Black Friday PacSun apple store bestbuy bestbuy gamestop black friday deals
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.