A few weeks ago, when I first began writing for this blog, I wrote about a man named Oscar Pistorius. Oscar is a South African man who was born missing major bones in both of his legs. He lost his legs and runs with the help of manmade ones. This week, he has been trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Until Oscar came along, people with manmade legs had never been allowed to run in the 400-meter dash. But Oscar did it, and even though he hasn’t qualified yet, I think he has already made a huge difference.
The big difference Oscar made was bigger than the fact that he didn’t run the time he needed to qualify for the Olympic race (he needed a 45.5-second finish; he ran a 46.62). The big difference was that Oscar changed the way athletes with no manmade parts see those who do need them.
Some of Oscar’s competitors said that the manmade legs gave him an unfair advantage and that that somehow made him less of a true athlete. I completely disagree. Whatever legs he had, I think Oscar showed more courage and hard work by continuing to train and fight for his chance to compete, even when others looked down on him. I think that, whatever time he ran, Oscar showed us all the attitude that the Olympics and all sports should try to teach people: sticking with a dream through everything.
The good news is that Oscar isn’t completely out of chances yet. He can still qualify for the South African 4x400-meter relay team (for which six men are chosen instead of just the top three). I’ll be watching that race because I hope a man like this gets an honest shot at the world’s games. Don’t you agree?
No comments:
Post a Comment