‘Blade Runner’ click-click-clicks into Oly history

Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012

LONDON -- It began with a smile at the starting line.

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LONDON -- It began with a smile at the starting line.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/08/2012 (5169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON — It began with a smile at the starting line.

Moments later, Oscar Pistorius took off and the click-click-clicking of carbon on the track was all but drowned out by the 80,000 fans on hand to watch him make history Saturday. The first amputee to compete in track at the Olympics, Pistorius cruised past an opponent or two in the backstretch of his 400-metre heat, and by the end, the “Blade Runner” was coasting in for a stress-free success.

Typical. Except this time, it was anything but that.

“I’ve worked for six years … to get my chance,” said the South African, who finished second and advanced to tonight’s semifinals. “I found myself smiling in the starting block.”

Yes, this sun-splashed day at Olympic Stadium was a good one for Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber blades and whose fight to get to this point has often felt more like a marathon than a sprint.

He finished in a season-best time of 45.44 seconds.

— The Associated Press