[34] After a serious rugby knee injury in June 2003, Pistorius was introduced to running in January 2004 while undergoing rehabilitation at the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre[35] with coach Ampie Louw, and "never looked back".

Because he was unable to find suitable running blades in Pretoria, Van der Watt ordered the pair to be made by a local engineer.

However, as these quickly broke, Van der Watt referred Pistorius to American prosthetist and Paralympic sprinter Brian Frasure to be fitted for blades by Icelandic company Össur.

[39] Sometimes referred to as the "Blade Runner" (after the science fiction film of the same name) and "the fastest man on no legs",[33][40][41] Pistorius took part in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and came third overall in the T44[33] 100-metre event.

[43] He went on to win the final in a world record time of 21.97 seconds, beating a pair of American runners, Marlon Shirley and Brian Frasure, both with single amputations.

[51] As American Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner stumbled at the start of the race and stopped running, Pistorius took seventh place in a field of eight in wet conditions with a time of 47.65 seconds.

He runs with J-shaped carbon-fibre prostheses called the "Flex-Foot Cheetah" developed by biomedical engineer Van Phillips and manufactured by Össur.

[53] In November 2007, Pistorius was invited to take part in a series of scientific tests at the German Sports University Cologne under the guidance of Professor of Biomechanics Dr Peter Brüggemann in conjunction with Elio Locatelli, who was responsible for all technical issues in the IAAF.

The report claimed that Pistorius's limbs used 25% less energy than runners with complete natural legs running at the same speed, and that they led to less vertical motion combined with 30% less mechanical work for lifting the body.

His manager, Peet van Zylm, said his appeal would be based on advice from experts in the United States who had said that the report "did not take enough variables into consideration".

[60] Pistorius subsequently appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and appeared before the tribunal at the end of April 2008.

[66] On 2 July 2008, Pistorius competed in the 400 metres in the B race of the Notturna International in Milan but was "disappointed"[66][67] when at 47.78 seconds his fourth-place finish was over the minimum Olympic qualifying time.

Pistorius's compatriot Natalie du Toit, a swimmer whose left leg was amputated above the knee after a traffic accident, was the debut amputee Olympian, at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

He expressed a preference for focusing on qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London,[67] stating that it was a more realistic target as "sprinters usually reach their peak between 26 and 29.

[77] He completed a hat-trick by winning gold in the 400 metres in a world-record time of 47.49 seconds on 16 September,[81] calling it "a memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life".

[82] In January 2011, a slimmer, trimmer Pistorius won three IPC Athletics World titles in New Zealand but was beaten for the first time in seven years in the 100 metres by Jerome Singleton.

[88] In the heats of the 4 × 400 metres relay, Pistorius ran the opening leg as South Africa advanced to the finals with a national record time of 2 minutes 59.21 seconds.

South Africa was passed into the final on appeal to the IAAF, due to interference by Vincent Kiilu, the Kenyan athlete who downed Mogawane.

In 2006, Pistorius was conferred the Order of Ikhamanga in Bronze (OIB) by then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, for outstanding achievement in sports.

Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to climb Mount Everest, wrote in an essay that Pistorius was "on the cusp of a paradigm shift in which disability becomes ability, disadvantage becomes advantage.

[127] On 9 September 2012, Pistorius was shortlisted by the IPC for the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award as a competitor "who is fair, honest and is uncompromising in his or her values and prioritises the promotion of the Paralympic Movement above personal recognition".

[163][164] On 20 May 2014, the trial proceedings were adjourned until 30 June to enable Pistorius to undergo psychiatric evaluation to establish whether he could be held criminally responsible for shooting Steenkamp.

Judge Thokozile Masipa agreed to a request for the evaluation by prosecutor Gerrie Nel after forensic psychiatrist Merryll Vorster testified for the defence that she had diagnosed Pistorius with generalised anxiety disorder.

[167][168] On 12 September, Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and one firearm-related charge of reckless endangerment related to discharging a firearm in a restaurant.

[172] On 4 November 2014, prosecutors applied to the sentencing judge for permission to appeal the culpable homicide verdict, stating that the five-year prison term was "shockingly light, inappropriate and would not have been imposed by any reasonable court".

By a unanimous decision,[177] the court overturned Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction and found him guilty of murder in the death of Reeva Steenkamp.

[15][179][180] The culpable homicide verdict was replaced with a murder conviction, and the case was referred back to the trial court for a sentencing hearing when it reconvened on 18 April 2016.

[188] On 21 July 2016, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that it would appeal against Judge Thokozile Masipa's "shockingly lenient" 6-year jail sentence.

[193] In November 2016, Pistorius was transferred from the Kgosi Mampuru jail to Atteridgeville Correctional Centre, which is smaller and better adapted for disabled prisoners because it has better facilities for inmates including bathtubs in cells.

[205][206] An unofficial biopic based on public records titled Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer, was aired on 18 November 2017 on South African TV.