Sports in Brief: Double amputee claims victories in 100 and 400

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, June, 2008 | by Compiled By The Inquirer Staff

South African double-amputee  Oscar Pistorius  won the 100- and 400-meter races at the Dutch Open yesterday in Emmeloord, Netherlands, as he gears up for a bid to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Pistorius, who hopes to run the 400 at Beijing, won in 47.92 seconds at the paralympic meet, a day after finishing first in the 200.

Pistorius must run the 400 under 45.55 seconds to qualify for Beijing. Pistorius later won the 100 in 11.48. The 21-year-old won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on May 16 that cleared him to compete alongside able-bodied competitors running on his trademark J-shaped Cheetah blades. Sheila Taormina  is expected to receive a bid to represent the United States in the Beijing Games in modern pentathlon - which would be make her the...