Thaindian News

London, Sep 3 (IANS) In a night that should have belonged to Paralympic Games superstar Oscar Pistorius, Alan Oliveira of Brazil had not read the script for the T44 men’s 200m by grabbing spotlight after a comeback victory at the Olympic Stadium here Sunday.

Pistorius was beaten for the first time over the distance in Paralympic competition since he was a teenager, with the Brazilian cutting him down in the closing stages of the race, reports Xinhua.

Controversy later raged with “Blade Runner” Pistorius again questioning the legality of Oliveira’s blades, claiming the shock winner had an unfair advantage because of their length.

The stage looked set for the South African star to follow on from his victories in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 after his T43 world record of 21.30 seconds in his heat Saturday and he had a clear lead at 150m in the final.

But Oliveira - like Pistorius, a double lower-leg amputee - produced a stunning turn of speed in the final 50m to overhaul arguably the most famous name to grace the Paralympic Games.

Oliveira stopped the clock at 21.45, the second fastest time in history for the classification, while Pistorius came home in 21.52, which was still faster than his personal best and world record prior to London 2012.

“I think this is a very strong race of mine, as I said yesterday the IPC don’t want to listen, the guy’s legs are unbelievably long and they haven’t, I mean, not taking away from Alan’s (Oliveira) performance he’s a great athlete but, you know when we do the measuring in the call rooms, a year ago these (guys) were over here, they’re a lot taller (now),” said the silver medallist on his emotions after the race.

“You can’t compete on stride length. You saw how far he came back so, you know what, we’re not racing a fair race here, but I gave my best on a great night. The IPC have their regulations. We tried to address the issue with them in the weeks upcoming to this and it’s just fallen on deaf ears,” added the 26-year-old.

“You saw Blake Leeper (bronze medallist) yesterday, the guy came down literally overnight and made his blades longer. His knee height’s like four inches higher than what it should be and the guy’s are just running ridiculous times and they’re able to do so. I think Alan’s a great athlete but you can’t come back (that much). I run just over 10 metres per second and I don’t know how you can come back - by watching the replay - from eight metres behind on the 100 to win. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

The Brazilian winner was disappointed with Pistorius’ remarks and showed his disagreement.

“It’s not just about the prostheses, there is training behind (my performance). I get upset to hear this kind of thing. I’m inside the rules (of the International Paralympic Committee - IPC). I came here to celebrate and do not enter in any polemics,” said the 20-year-old champion.

“For me he is a really great idol and to listen to that coming from a great idol, it’s difficult.”