Oscar Pistorius Probably Won't Run in Beijing

Double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius will be allowed to represent South Africa in the Beijing Olympics while using his Cheetah prosthetic legs, the Court of Arbitration in Sport ruled last week.

But just because he's allowed to run doesn't mean he will. In fact, as the Times of South Africa reports, he's got a very, very difficult road to qualify for the Olympics. There is almost no chance that Pistorius will run a qualifying time in the 400 meters, as Pistorius himself seems to have accepted:

"At least the door is open for the future - I can run in able-bodied meets. There will be world champs next year, the 2012 Olympics. In all honesty, it will be extremely difficult to qualify for Beijing."

If the South African 4x400-meter relay team qualifies for Beijing (probably about a 50-50 proposition), Pistorius might be chosen as an alternate on that team. So he might get to Beijing. But he probably wouldn't actually run there.

The bottom line is that the ruling allowing Pistorius to run set an important precedent for the future, but it will probably have no impact on the 2008 Summer Olympics.