Oscar Pistorius Could be Available for the 2020 Paralympics

Oscar Pistorius Could be Available for the 2020 Paralympics

Oscar Pistorius could be available for selection at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the country’s sports chief has claimed.

Pistorius, 29, was earlier in the week handed a six-year prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

But the blade runner, who has previously won gold medals at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympics in Athens, Beijing and London respectively, could still be released in time for selection ahead of the 2020 Games, Daily Mail writes.

This is because he has already served one year of the term and will be released well in advance of the Games in Japan.

And according to the CEO of South Africa’s Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Tubby Reddy, he isn’t excluded by law from competing at the Games.

“He would have paid his debt to society and will be back in society, living as a normal South African citizen. There is no rule that says he wouldn’t be able to participate,” Reddy said.

“Yes, the sentence he has been given has divided opinion – there are those who are happy about it and there are those who are unhappy, and you will always have that.

“But if he is out on parole, as it seems he will be before then, and qualifies for selection then I don’t see how there can be a problem – why not?”

Pistorious, the world’s most famous double-amputee shot and killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day of 2013, claiming he’d mistaken her for an intruder.