Oscar Pistorius, Track Star Turned Convicted Murderer, Set To Leave Jail –
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Oscar Pistorius’ life story from before and after Valentine’s Day 2013 reads like the script to two markedly different films – the first an inspirational sporting biopic and the second a grim tale of murder.
In the first he was the “Blade Runner”, the multiple Paralympic gold medallist with carbon-fibre prosthetic legs who became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when he took part in the 2012 London games.
In the second he was the man convicted of murdering his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp – a model and promising law graduate – by shooting her through the door of a bathroom in his Pretoria home.
On Friday, he will be back in the spotlight when he will be released from prison nearly 11 years after the killing. He was granted parole on Nov. 24, to take effect on Jan. 5.
Pistorius, who was born without fibulas and had both legs amputated below the knees before his first birthday, was once seen as the embodiment of human triumph over adversity.
The Johannesburg-born athlete gained global fame in the early 2000s, when he won Paralympic gold in the 200 metres at the Games in Athens.
Pistorius then set his sights on running against able-bodied athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but was barred from competing in the event by World Athletics – then called the International Association of Athletics Federations.
The ban was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Pistorius failed to qualify for the Olympics, coming within 0.70 seconds of the qualifying standard for the 400 metres in Beijing.
Undeterred, he swept that year’s Paralympics, taking home the 100, 200 and 400 metre gold medals, before launching a bid to qualify for 2012 Olympics in London.
This time he was successful, and reached the 400m semi-finals and competed for South Africa in the 4x400m relay.
He also won another three Paralympic medals that year but then, on Feb. 14, 2013, he shot and killed Steenkamp.
A gun enthusiast, he told the trial he had believed Steenkamp was an intruder when he shot her several times with ammunition designed to inflict maximum damage to the human body. It was an account he repeated over the years.
He was initially jailed for five years in 2014 for culpable homicide by a high court. But the Supreme Court of Appeal in late 2015 found him guilty of the more serious charge of murder after an appeal by prosecutors.
He was jailed in 2016, initially for six years which was later increased to more than 13 after an appeal by prosecutors who argued the initial sentence was too lenient.
In 2022, Pistorius met Steenkamp’s father Barry during a process known as victim-offender dialogue – part of South Africa’s restorative justice programme that brings parties affected by a crime together in a bid to achieve closure.
Few details were made public about the meeting and Steenkamp’s father died in 2023.
Her mother June said in a statement before the parole hearing for Pistorius, now 37 years old, that she was not convinced he had been rehabilitated.
But she added that she had forgiven him “long ago as I knew most certainly that I would not be able to survive if I had to cling to my anger”.
-Reuters
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Olympics
This is my story: Odegbami on how he is stranded in London
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BY SEGUN ODEGBAMI, LONDON
Cancelled Eurostar train services from London to Paris, and other local services within France, have left hundreds of thousands of attendees of the Paris Olympic Games in the limbo of uncertainty.
Even as I am also stranded until the security measures are lifted, there are ‘eyes’ over the Olympics and the city of Paris that reveal that the excitement over, probably, the most romantic Olympic Games in history, is unscathed, buzzing and alive all over France.
The Falcons of Nigeria played against Brazil yesterday and lost. They play again on Sunday in Nantes! Life goes on!
On ‘90 mins with Mathematical’ tomorrow morning I shall chat with Dr. Vincent Okumagba, Chairman of Super Eaglesl Supporters Club, in Nantes; and Aramide, a former diplomat and a Nigerian resident in Paris, on the first days of Paris 2024!
Uncategorized
BREAKING! Odegbami stranded in London as saboteurs cause travel chaos in France before Opening Ceremony
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Nigeria legendary former footballer, Segun Odegbami is among thousands of people unable to travel by train to Paris to witness the novel Opening Ceremony that Paris 2024 intends to put up.
Ahead of the formal opening of the Games, arson attack has caused travel chaos thwarting athletes’ travel plans to Paris.
High-speed trains around France were hit by several “malicious acts” this Friday that heavily disrupted traffic on the day of the high-risk opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Arsonists attacked the French high-speed rail network early Friday, paralyzing travel to Paris from across the rest of France and Europe for some 800,000 people, including Olympic athletes heading to the grand opening ceremony of the Games in the evening.
French officials condemned the attacks as “criminal actions,” though they said there was no sign of a direct link to the Games. Prosecutors in Paris opened a national investigation saying the crimes — among them property damage threatening the nation’s “fundamental interests” — could carry sentences of 10 to 20 years.
“It’s a hell of a way to start the Olympics,” said Sarah Moseley, a 42-year-old traveler waiting at the Gare du Nord station in Paris as she learned that her train to London was delayed by the rail chaos.
Olympics
Host club at Super Falcons’ Olympic match venue, Bordeaux is bankrupt
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After their lone goal loss to Brazil in their Group C opener of the Olympic Games, Super Falcons leave Bordeaux today for Nantes.
The host club of Bordeaux, FC Girondins de Bordeaux have filed for bankruptcy. This is coming just days after they were relegated to the third tier of French football after Liverpool soccer club’s owner withdrew from takeover talks, the former Ligue 1 club said on Thursday.
Earlier this month the six-times French champions were demoted from Ligue 2 by the National Directorate of Management Control due to financial concerns.
Once Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, pulled out from takeover talks, it effectively ended the club’s survival hopes.
“It’s a difficult decision that anticipates an inevitable consequence of the restructuring process underway,” the club said in a statement.
Bordeaux will also abandon their professional status they have held since 1937 and close their renowned training academy, which has helped to develop players such as Bixente Lizarazu, Jules Kounde, and Zinedine Zidane.
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