We have compiled for you the interesting story of South African record-holder Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend and ended up in jail.
Oscar Pistorius was born in 1986 in Johannesburg. Oscar, who is the son of a South African family of Italian origin, had no fibula bones in both legs when he was born.
With the support of his family, he was interested in sports such as tennis, rugby, and water polo at an early age. But, he finally decided to turn to athletics and started running with carbon fiber prosthetic legs in 2004. He quickly attracted attention with his speed and wanted to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the IAAF claimed that the carbon fiber prosthesis would give him an advantage over other competitors and rejected the application. Oscar applied to CAS and proved that the advantage was out of the question. However, South Africa did not consider him good enough for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and did not include him in the squad. In this case, Oscar participated in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games and won gold medals in the 100m and 400m races that year.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (born 22 November 1986) is a South African former professional sprinter and convicted murderer. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old owing to a congenital defect; he was born missing the outside of both feet and both fibulae. Pistorius ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games.
Later, he participated in the World Championships again, after which he became the first person to appear as a disabled athlete at the 2012 London Olympics and made history. Their best times are 100m 10.91sec, 200m21.41sec, and 400m 45.07sec, all of which are clasT-44's world records.
Shining star Oscar Pistorius made many sponsorship deals. Everything was perfect until February 14, 2013.
On February 14, 2013, he was arrested for killing his girlfriend, Reeve Steenkamp, whom he loved very much. In the court, he stated that he thought a thief had entered his house and grabbed his gun, and for a while, he could not control his tears.
Pistorius' name had never been involved in a murder case before; however, as the investigation continued, more interesting events began to surface. It was revealed that a month before the murder, on January 13, 2013, the young athlete fired a shot at the ground in a restaurant where he was sitting with his friends. Pistorius claimed that he 'dropped the pistol on the ground and the gun went off accidentally', but his friend sitting at the same table that day denied the situation and said that Pistorius fired 'jokingly'. When no complaints were received from anyone, including the restaurant officials, the issue was closed; however, this event presented a powerful trump card against Pistorius in the hands of the court.
Pistorius' ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, stated in her statement that the young man always carries his gun with him. After an argument with a police officer, Pistorius became enraged and fired into the air from the sunroof of his vehicle. In another incident, Pistorius left his home and pointed a gun at the driver of a BMW vehicle he claimed was following him. At the same time, the young athlete was immediately affected by the noises at night, getting out of bed with a gun and looking for the source of the noise in the house. Samantha Taylor, who was 17 during their relationship, said, 'Why did you break up with Pistorius?' She replied to the question 'He cheated on me with Steenkamp'.
The prosecutor's office reported that after the examination, the woman hid in the bathroom and many bullet marks were found on her. Pistorius, who was sentenced to 13 years, attempted suicide in 2018. He's still in prison now.