Oscar Pistorious, South Africa’s very own ‘Blade Runner’ was named the winner of the 2012 Laureus World Sportperson of the Year with a Disability Award.
The event, that took place on Monday night in London, honoured the young man who runs on carbon fibre blades and has made his mark both on and off the track with ad campaigns for Thierry Mugler’s fragrance, A*Men and Nike.
In 2011 Pistorious became the first amputee to win a non-disabled World Championship track medal, as a member of the South African silver medal winning 4 x 400 metres relay team, in Daegu, South Korea. Pistrious has been spending his time bridging the gap between abled and disabled sports and is determined to reach his goal of participating in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
After receiving the Statuette from Spanish actress Elsa Pataky and skateboard legend Tony Hawk in the globally televised Awards Ceremony, Oscar Pistorius said that, “This is just a great privilege to be nominated, it is really humbling to be here. To all the Laureus Academy Members, all you guys and icons who a lot of us still competing look up to, thank you very much.”
Laureus Academy Member Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Olympic Games Organising Committee, said: “I only realised the impact that Oscar has made on Olympic and Paralympic sport when I witnessed him in Trafalgar Square during the course of the summer.”
Coe continued, “We celebrated International Paralympic Day in London and when Oscar gave his demonstration on a 60-metre stretch of tartan in front of the National Gallery, there were kids of all ages lining up wanting his autograph, pressing their noses to the barriers to get a glimpse of him. I suddenly realised this is a guy that really has made a massive impact in international sport. I think what Oscar has done is to really make us challenge our own orthodoxies, our own views about disability.”
Other winners of the night included:
Source: Sport Live
Andrew Norman
@StormanNorman 
Kelly
Thys Geldenhuys
Anfred Waldeck
Alaric von Molendorff
Nichol Hoekstra
@theKaptiv 
Gracia Michaels
Steven Mervis
Bradley Voges
