Insight: Tribute to this future Olympian?

Are you man enough to support and accept this guy into an Olympics event?

Read in The Straits Times today (19 May 2007, Sat) about a certain youth from South Africa named Oscar Pistorius. He is a 20-year-old but is already one of a handful of runners around the globe who could make the Olympic qualifying time for the 100m sprint event.

But Oscar's Olympic bid is like no other - he is a double amputee, ie. a person with no legs! So it remains to be seen if he'll be accepted to run alongside so-called normal athletes. Out of curiosity, The Cocoon Man managed to dig out more information about this interesting young man…

At birth Oscar was missing bones below the knee. After his legs were removed, at the age of one, he learnt to walk on prosthetics, and he believes this pushed him to excel. He has done everything from quad biking to water skiing. He took up athletics as rehabilitation for a rugby injury. (This is not a TYPO error. Don’t tell me how he played rubgy!)

This is what I like about this young man – Already a CHAMPION in his thinking…

"I train harder than any of the other guys do."
"I put in more hours. I eat better. I sleep better. I rest better and, overall, I am more diligent."
"I don't see myself as disabled, and I think it's the guy that wants to win the hardest who'll get it."

A few good lessons for us Singaporeans to learn:
- Don’t blame your parents or the Government for your state of being.
- Whatever you do, do your best! Foreign talents compete with you, so what?! Believe in yourself. You are also talented!
- Be hardworking (don’t “eat snake”) when everyone else is relaxing.

I don’t know who his parents are, but they must be DAMN PROUD of this son! I can see him becoming a very successful person, in whatever field he may be in, even after he quits running.

This guy runs the 100m sprint in under 11sec, 10.91sec to be exact. What’s your time? May he be your source of encouragement to pass your IPPT!

My thoughts:
- You never know how good you can be. Humanity is great in the sense that it’s always full of pleasant surprises.
- A normal person with a disabled thinking is the worst being to be in existence.

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