SALON

Tuesday, Feb 19, 2013 3:50 PM UTC

Paralympics refocuses on future without Pistorius

By

Topics: From the Wires,

LONDON (AP) — As Oscar Pistorius offered his first defense against a murder charge, the head of the Paralympics tried to reassure members Tuesday that the organization has a strong future even without its star athlete.

International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven told The Associated Press he has been in a state of “shock and disbelief” since Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder in last week’s shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius enjoyed a record-breaking Paralympics last year and had been central to plans to maintain the momentum of disability sports. Now, he has pulled out of all future races.

The South African helped generate unprecedented interest in the Paralympics by becoming the first double amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics. Craven wants to ensure the Paralympics’ progress is not damaged by the fallout from Pistorius’ high-profile case.

“We’ve got so many stars coming through that this will not be an issue,” Craven said.

“Even since this tragedy happened, it’s still been ‘London, London, London’ and what happened there — a unique moment in times that still continues in the hearts and minds of people.”

And in a letter to IPC members on Tuesday, Craven sought to shift attention from the “difficult and traumatic day” regarding Pistorius to remind how the London Paralympics succeeded in creating “a whole host of young world-class, medal-winning athletes.”

Craven pointed to British sprinter Jonnie Peacock, who deposed Pistorius as 100-meter champion at the Paralympics, and Alan Oliveira, who took the 200 title in front of a crowd of some 80,000 in the London Olympic Stadium.

“It’s upon their shoulders that the Paralympic movement will be moving forward, and it’s still continuing to be the most exciting times after London,” Craven said by phone from the IPC winter sports championships in Spain.

Craven has experienced a “roller-coaster of emotion” since being awakened early Thursday with the news of the shooting. Pistorius said at Tuesday’s bail hearing he believed she was a robber and the shooting was an accident.

“Shock and disbelief,” Craven recalled of his initial thoughts. “I could not believe what I was hearing … because of this total difference between Oscar, the person I knew — I won’t say very well but I had interacted with him on many occasions in press conferences etc. and seen him compete — and the Oscar we we’re hearing about now in the media and with what happened.”

Craven said he had not witnessed any change in Pistorius’ mindset at the Paralympics even when the runner created a storm by suggesting rival Oliveira was gaining an unfair advantage by using lengthened blades.

“In the heat of competition — I remember when I was a wheelchair basketball player — the redness would come down particularly if I didn’t agree with certain refereeing decisions, and I’ve seen it in other athletes,” Craven said. “I think it’s something that happens all the time in athletic competitions.

He said the dispute about the blades did not bother him, and “didn’t make me think there was anything different in London (with Pistorius) to what there had been before.”

Craven has not made contact with the 26-year-old Pistorius since the Valentine’s Day arrest. The Paralympic chief has expressed the organization’s condolences to the family of Steenkamp, the model and law graduate who was cremated at a memorial service Tuesday in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

More By Rob Harris.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
3107 points3108 points | 2576 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
1076 points1077 points | 580 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
152 points153 points | 61 comments
vote
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
29 points30 points | 11 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
31 points32 points | 15 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations