:00:00. > :00:09.Now on BBC News, a special programme on the Oscar Pistorius trial.
:00:10. > :00:19.Oscar Pistorius. Blade Runner, trailblazer, icon. And now convicted
:00:20. > :00:22.of the culpable homicide of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Her
:00:23. > :00:29.parents left devastated but able to forgive, they say, the man who took
:00:30. > :00:32.their daughter from them. At times the South African athletes seemed to
:00:33. > :00:39.defy the laws of physics that fell from grace so fast. I think it has
:00:40. > :00:44.broken down the barrier in which people think he lives on a cloud
:00:45. > :00:51.because he achieves success. But who is the man behind one of sport's
:00:52. > :00:57.greatest fairytales? He listened to all of my problems. He was too kind.
:00:58. > :01:01.Did he feel he was above the law? There was this personality that was
:01:02. > :01:06.working just below the surface. I don't think people really knew about
:01:07. > :01:14.it. And yet he remains an inspiration to so many. As I lost my
:01:15. > :01:19.leg, I saw him doing so well without two legs and he was a role model of
:01:20. > :01:24.mine. So, what now for sport and for the Paralympic movement as its
:01:25. > :01:38.former hero hangs his head in shame?
:01:39. > :01:45.Oscar Pistorius did more than just win races. He changed the way the
:01:46. > :01:50.world viewed disability. But long before he became extraordinary,
:01:51. > :01:54.ordinary was all he wanted to be, as he himself told the BBC back at the
:01:55. > :02:00.start of his career. They may call me the Blade Runner but I'm just
:02:01. > :02:04.scar, a 21`year`old Paralympians. When I was born with missing calf
:02:05. > :02:07.bones, but parents may be difficult decision of getting my legs
:02:08. > :02:14.abdicated but today I can look at and say that they definitely made
:02:15. > :02:19.the right decision. Growing up in the suburbs of the South African
:02:20. > :02:25.capital, Pretoria, the young Oscar Pistorius played on these fields,
:02:26. > :02:32.treated the same as everybody else. It was kind of like you have
:02:33. > :02:35.prosthetic legs, that's nice, your brother will put on his shoes, you
:02:36. > :02:40.put on your legs and off you go. That was the mentality I grew up
:02:41. > :02:45.with. David O'Sullivan first met him when he was a schoolboy. He went to
:02:46. > :02:50.a very good government school where he quite clearly was your typical
:02:51. > :02:55.South African boy. Mischievous, loved his sport. If you looked at
:02:56. > :03:00.his prosthetic legs, they were full of bumps and scratches and scrapes
:03:01. > :03:07.that he would be able to talk me through wilder moments of his
:03:08. > :03:11.childhood. Falling off go`karts and things like that. He struck me as
:03:12. > :03:17.being your average South African schoolboy. It was here at this high
:03:18. > :03:21.school but the remarkable story of Oscar Pistorius's athletics career
:03:22. > :03:26.began. When, in the summer of 2003 while playing rugby, he badly
:03:27. > :03:30.injured his knee and had to take a running instead. Either following
:03:31. > :03:35.January, he had managed to break the Paralympic world record for the 100
:03:36. > :03:39.metres. His name appears on the honours board here but such is the
:03:40. > :03:42.controversy now surrounding their former pupil no one from the school
:03:43. > :03:48.wants to talk about him and they won't even let us come inside. His
:03:49. > :03:55.early training was on the missable trucks around the city, after he was
:03:56. > :04:00.given a pair of carbon fibre blades. Go down 50`50 advocate. They were
:04:01. > :04:05.totally different to his usual prosthetics and with them came
:04:06. > :04:11.speed. Surprising speed. It was here at the stadium in Pretoria in March,
:04:12. > :04:14.2004, when a teenage Pistorius after just two months of training with
:04:15. > :04:22.Blades showed how good he was. He ran the 100 metres in just 11.5
:04:23. > :04:27.seconds. The new world record. Within one year I had my first gold
:04:28. > :04:34.medal at the Paralympics in Athens. 21.99! My goodness, Oscar Pistorius
:04:35. > :04:39.has blown the world record apart. I am the Paralympic record holder in
:04:40. > :04:45.the 100, 200 and 500 metres. He is heading for greatness. To his own
:04:46. > :04:49.surprise, Pistorius had become a Paralympians, running to a place in
:04:50. > :04:53.the record books immediately. That after what seems like the overnight
:04:54. > :05:02.success can be hard work of becoming and then remaining a champion.
:05:03. > :05:08.Natalie was the first ever Paralympians to take part in the
:05:09. > :05:12.able`bodied Olympics, competing in the ten kilometre swim at the
:05:13. > :05:17.Beijing games of 2008. She knows only too well the determination
:05:18. > :05:21.needed to succeed against the odds. If you come across people on the
:05:22. > :05:26.streets, they are always amazed at disabled people and how they can get
:05:27. > :05:30.into a cement pool and Sweden. Some of them have arms and legs, how do
:05:31. > :05:34.you move in a swimming pool? They can do things and ordinary person
:05:35. > :05:41.wouldn't do. In a way you have to deal with, as a disabled person, the
:05:42. > :05:44.disability but in a way you also inspire and a lot of these able to
:05:45. > :05:53.people go on to achieve more than what they would have awful tough
:05:54. > :05:58.when they were able`bodied. `` a lot of these disabled people. Tattooed
:05:59. > :06:02.on Pistorius is this verse from the Bible. I do not run like a man
:06:03. > :06:07.running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. I
:06:08. > :06:11.execute each strike with intent. I beat my body and make it my slave.
:06:12. > :06:18.But long before it was written on his back, this was a maxim he lived
:06:19. > :06:23.by. I put in more hours, eat better, sleep better, I trained better than
:06:24. > :06:26.the other guys. Competing in the able`bodied South African
:06:27. > :06:31.championships of 2005, Pistorius finished sixth in the 400 metres. It
:06:32. > :06:36.planted the seeds of a dream. Could he win against athletes without this
:06:37. > :06:48.ability is? And how far could he go? He took on Zimbabwe's Olympic
:06:49. > :06:55.athlete as a trading partner. He asked if he could join us. From
:06:56. > :07:00.there, we contacted him, how his career was going, things like that.
:07:01. > :07:07.He could run the 400 metres in less than 45 seconds. A target Pistorius
:07:08. > :07:11.desperately wanted to beat. The pair began to train together, travelling
:07:12. > :07:15.to international competitions. We have some nice experiences with him,
:07:16. > :07:20.staying with him for about four or five months, especially staying in
:07:21. > :07:25.the same apartment, sharing the same food. He used to cook, I wash the
:07:26. > :07:31.dishes. He was chasing a dream. A big dream. But at times Pistorius
:07:32. > :07:38.doubted himself, wondering if he would ever succeed. He was somebody
:07:39. > :07:46.who could say, brother, I want this so badly. He asked me, what do you
:07:47. > :07:53.think? I said, brother, you have to just run. He was so nervous. But all
:07:54. > :07:56.of his achievements... Everything was so intense. He had that feeling.
:07:57. > :08:01.Every body was watching, all of these feelings. He didn't care about
:08:02. > :08:05.the people watching, he cared about what he wanted to achieve. As the
:08:06. > :08:09.medals increased, so did his confidence and profile. His was a
:08:10. > :08:21.story of triumph over adversity and it inspired a nation. Affluent,
:08:22. > :08:25.Christian and conservative, the Pistorius family are a traditional
:08:26. > :08:29.Afrikaans family well known in Pretoria. The small city was his
:08:30. > :08:36.home but once it was a celebrity it also became his playground. Over the
:08:37. > :08:40.years, when the fame and the money and the stardom began to roll in,
:08:41. > :08:43.there were incidents. We heard about them but we never wanted to report
:08:44. > :08:48.them and we never really wanted to acknowledge them because we didn't
:08:49. > :08:54.want to tarnish what was such a good thing for the country. This man is a
:08:55. > :08:59.security expert and private investigator who lived just outside
:09:00. > :09:04.the city. We were running the biggest bouncing organisation in
:09:05. > :09:08.Pretoria, protecting the nightclubs. He arrived with some of his friends
:09:09. > :09:13.and wanted to go in without paying. He started an argument with the head
:09:14. > :09:17.bouncer. The argument was about that he wasn't recognised for the person
:09:18. > :09:23.that he is and he is famous and, do you know who I am kind of attitude.
:09:24. > :09:27.He showed aggression and attitude. And fame `` had fame and fortune got
:09:28. > :09:32.to his head? The public didn't care. After all, he was just a young
:09:33. > :09:33.man growing up in the public eye and going from strength to strength on
:09:34. > :09:44.the track. There's no way that Pistorius can
:09:45. > :09:56.catch in... Or can he? The story is gets it! Oh my goodness!
:09:57. > :10:03.Pistorius was enjoying a steady stream of success with the medals
:10:04. > :10:08.continuing to flow. But still questions over his Blades continued
:10:09. > :10:11.to dog him. The world body that governs athletics decided they gave
:10:12. > :10:16.him an unfair advantage and banned him from competing in able`bodied
:10:17. > :10:21.competitions. But he fought it and he won. There's always going to be
:10:22. > :10:27.people with their opinions and you will always get the guy who wants to
:10:28. > :10:30.argue that wet is dry and Louise green. That's their job and that the
:10:31. > :10:35.energy they want to waste but mine is on the track. I have been given a
:10:36. > :10:42.phenomenal talent and I worked extremely hard. We were showed a new
:10:43. > :10:45.Pistorius. The shy, `` the shy boy was gone. Now instead of
:10:46. > :10:49.professional and business savvy sportsmen who tried to control the
:10:50. > :10:55.media. The Oscar Pistorius that I met maybe 14 years ago, fame and
:10:56. > :10:59.fortune had changed completely. As a sports journalist, if you are in any
:11:00. > :11:07.way critical of what he was trying to achieve, if you criticised his
:11:08. > :11:11.blades, if someone my radio show was critical of him and thought he had
:11:12. > :11:15.an advantage, suddenly you word an enemy but you won't in that in a
:11:16. > :11:19.circle any more. `` you weren't an enemy. The BBC Radio interview in
:11:20. > :11:24.2011 showed precisely how he dealt with difficult questions. Some
:11:25. > :11:28.people regard you as an inspiration to Paralympic athletes, no question
:11:29. > :11:33.about that. But it might also be said that you are an inconvenient
:11:34. > :11:37.embarrassment to the South African authorities it was effectively you
:11:38. > :11:40.are taking them into a Charter `` uncharted ethical waters. What's
:11:41. > :11:46.your reaction? That's an insult. This interview is over. It isn't an
:11:47. > :11:56.insult. That's an insult. Thank you very much. And that I'm afraid is
:11:57. > :12:03.how it finished. They told me I would never walk. That I would never
:12:04. > :12:09.compete with other kids. And a man with no legs can't run.
:12:10. > :12:15.Anything else you want to tell me? There was big pressure on him. You
:12:16. > :12:20.could see the way he used to dream, even with the coach. You could see.
:12:21. > :12:25.Not everybody knows that Oscar is somebody who laughs or whatever
:12:26. > :12:29.but, you know, for us, when we were practising, it was so hectic. We
:12:30. > :12:34.were chasing maybe 44 seconds. There was no time to say it was a laughing
:12:35. > :12:40.matter with him. It was no laughing matter. At London 2012, Pistorius
:12:41. > :12:44.made history, becoming the first amputee to run at the Olympics. But
:12:45. > :12:48.by now more stories were emerging about an athlete who seemed rather
:12:49. > :12:55.different to the hero betrayed in the adverts. A roommate of Oscar
:12:56. > :12:59.Pistorius told me that he had to move out of their room because Oscar
:13:00. > :13:02.had gone hysterical on the phone and was shouting and screaming on the
:13:03. > :13:07.phone. It transpired he was shouting and screaming at his then girlfriend
:13:08. > :13:11.and a man who had taken his golf and out on an overseas trip. I had the
:13:12. > :13:15.story confirmed by so many other athletes who said it was terrible to
:13:16. > :13:20.witness, this incredible meltdown by Oscar Pistorius. It seems so strange
:13:21. > :13:23.that he was capable of such rage at a time when I thought he would be
:13:24. > :13:24.channelling all his energies and efforts into performing the best he
:13:25. > :13:33.could. He later released a statement,
:13:34. > :13:47.saying: there was controversy on the track
:13:48. > :13:52.as well, when Oscar Pistorius was beaten bright `` by a Brazilian
:13:53. > :13:58.athlete in the 200 metre final in London. Oscar Pistorius suggested
:13:59. > :14:03.his rival had cheated. TRANSLATION: He was an idol to me, not only to me
:14:04. > :14:09.but the children as well. Then suddenly, we saw another side of
:14:10. > :14:13.him. He said there was something wrong with my blades. After all
:14:14. > :14:17.that, it was difficult for me to stand beside him. He saw me at the
:14:18. > :14:23.Olympic Village and refused to talk to me. He told me that he had
:14:24. > :14:24.apologised to me, but that never happened. He apologised to the
:14:25. > :14:31.media, but never to me. What was media, but never to me. What was
:14:32. > :14:37.reported in the world 's media is distinctly unsportsmanlike
:14:38. > :14:40.behaviour, which was seen at home in South Africa very differently. The
:14:41. > :14:45.South African media could be partly to blame as well. He had a lot of
:14:46. > :14:50.friends in the media, and they were fans. What he did at the Paralympic
:14:51. > :14:55.games, if I was a newspaper editor in South Africa, my headline would
:14:56. > :15:02.be Oscar Pistorius embarrasses South Africa. But he was betrayed as the
:15:03. > :15:12.guy who wasn't at fault. He acted in a spoiled brat manner, when he lost.
:15:13. > :15:17.`` portrayed. The man who has now become the new poster boy of
:15:18. > :15:21.Paralympic sport told me that Oscar Pistorius was also capable of
:15:22. > :15:26.surprising generosity. He gave me words of advice, encouragement. You
:15:27. > :15:33.know, coming through. He was there for me as well. At the final in
:15:34. > :15:41.London, he told me just before, do you mind if I pray for you? He was a
:15:42. > :15:48.nice person, to be there. But you never know. It is a crazy situation,
:15:49. > :15:52.but in terms of what he did the Paralympic sport, it says in itself,
:15:53. > :16:06.he made that first breakthrough. Even now, currently, he was someone
:16:07. > :16:10.I would call. Two days before, he would say I could meet him. For all
:16:11. > :16:21.of these past years, I have had a problem, and he would never question
:16:22. > :16:28.me. If I ever asked him for money. I can say, honestly, he was too kind
:16:29. > :16:32.to me. During his trial, such was the conflicting picture painted of
:16:33. > :16:37.Oscar Pistorius, the prosecution coined the phrase" the two Oscars" .
:16:38. > :16:40.It emerged he accidentally fired a gun in a crowded Johannesburg
:16:41. > :16:46.restaurant, and asked a friend to take the blame. One month later,
:16:47. > :16:50.Reeva Steenkamp was dead. In the past year, also, leading up to the
:16:51. > :17:05.shooting, he really seemed to be a different person to the public
:17:06. > :17:08.persona he presented. You heard about the fast cars, how he was an
:17:09. > :17:11.insomniac who used to go to the shooting range in the middle of the
:17:12. > :17:13.night, and we heard about the sunroof incident where he discharged
:17:14. > :17:16.his firearm through the open roof of a moving car. We heard about the
:17:17. > :17:18.incident where a gun went off in a busy restaurant. There were more and
:17:19. > :17:20.more incidents happening which showed Oscar Pistorius to be more
:17:21. > :17:24.volatile and aggressive, and really not quite the public image that he
:17:25. > :17:29.had been so careful to present to the media and the public. None of
:17:30. > :17:34.these incidents could have foretold the events of February the 14th,
:17:35. > :17:39.2013, when Reeva Steenkamp was killed. Some feel the tragedy could
:17:40. > :17:45.have been avoided if South Africa had loved Oscar Pistorius a bit
:17:46. > :17:53.less. The shock it is that, for all of the previous situations where he
:17:54. > :17:57.was involved in gun incidents, if he was properly prosecuted at that
:17:58. > :18:02.stage, Reeva Steenkamp would have been alive today. `` the shock of it
:18:03. > :18:06.is. If the gun incident at the restaurant was handled correctly by
:18:07. > :18:10.the police, the law in South Africa states that if someone makes a
:18:11. > :18:15.mistake or if they gun goes off, it should be properly investigated. It
:18:16. > :18:21.would have been a public expression of what happened. Obviously, I think
:18:22. > :18:26.it would have had the necessary effect on him. Thinking to himself,
:18:27. > :18:30.I need to be more careful. Unfortunately, celebrities,
:18:31. > :18:35.well`known people, and even myself would be treated differently. We
:18:36. > :18:41.want to try and help those people. Sometimes, we literally help them on
:18:42. > :18:48.the way down. The law should be the same for everyone. Running at the
:18:49. > :18:52.London Olympics was the realisation of a dream. Struggling to hold back
:18:53. > :18:58.the tears, Oscar Pistorius told the BBC just how much it meant to him. I
:18:59. > :19:03.don't know if I should cry and be happy, but no, I had a job to do.
:19:04. > :19:08.There was such a mix of emotions. I didn't know what form I would be in
:19:09. > :19:12.today, I had a good race tactic, I stuck to it. Thanks to my family.
:19:13. > :19:17.When I walked onto the ground here, it was the most amazing experience.
:19:18. > :19:20.Thank you very much. London 2012 tour the world that to be a
:19:21. > :19:26.Paralympian was to be superhuman, with Oscar Pistorius at the
:19:27. > :19:31.forefront of it all. Sir Philip Craven is the most powerful figure
:19:32. > :19:38.in Paralympic sport. A great athlete, someone who is passionate
:19:39. > :19:43.about athletics. Someone who really loved what he was doing. The
:19:44. > :19:48.training that he did to get to the speeds that he achieved, things have
:19:49. > :19:52.changed and things have moved on. We must never forget the contribution
:19:53. > :19:55.that Oscar Pistorius made, which is mind boggling really. The
:19:56. > :20:00.Paralympics are bigger than Oscar Pistorius. He was just one athlete.
:20:01. > :20:05.He is part of a massive organisation. There are a lot of
:20:06. > :20:08.great athletes in it. Great athletes will follow in his path, and we met
:20:09. > :20:14.many here in South Africa who have been inspired by him. The
:20:15. > :20:17.high`performance NT here at the University of Pretoria was where
:20:18. > :20:22.Oscar Pistorius began his athletic career. `` centre. Now South African
:20:23. > :20:28.sport is looking at a new generation of talent. Here, they search from
:20:29. > :20:32.schools to slums for the very best the country has to offer. Foreign
:20:33. > :20:36.athletes pay to use the facilities of the centre, and that money funds
:20:37. > :20:42.young African hopefuls to eat, train and live here. It is not easy
:20:43. > :20:46.though. The sad thing is that a gold medal rower, for example, when they
:20:47. > :20:52.won gold, they were the toast of the town, and two months later, we were
:20:53. > :20:56.scrounging for money to buy them food. They are remembered from 4`
:20:57. > :21:01.six weeks, and then forgotten. The Oscar thing is a blip on the radar,
:21:02. > :21:05.the country will get over it. I believe the talent on the will is
:21:06. > :21:15.there to win. South Africa is a winning country, they hate to lose.
:21:16. > :21:18.Oscar Pistorius was a young boy. He taught himself, listen, I want to
:21:19. > :21:23.achieve this goal, and I will let nothing stop me from achieving it. I
:21:24. > :21:28.take a lot of inspiration seeing these guys around here, knowing it
:21:29. > :21:33.is within my reach. What he did as an athlete was inspiring, and I
:21:34. > :21:38.cannot take that away from him. This 19`year`old roller lost his leg in a
:21:39. > :21:47.lawnmower accident. He is still an inspiration to me. `` rower. When I
:21:48. > :21:55.lost my leg, I saw him doing so well without two legs, and he was a role
:21:56. > :22:02.model of mine. I stayed positive for the rest of my life. Some remain
:22:03. > :22:04.loyal to their fallen hero, but there is little sense of Oscar
:22:05. > :22:08.Pistorius' shadow hanging over the track here. Instead young athletes
:22:09. > :22:13.are grateful for the chance they have been given and train with quiet
:22:14. > :22:16.determination. Elsewhere, it may take time to South Africa to come to
:22:17. > :22:24.terms with the demise of a man who made its people proud. As an athlete
:22:25. > :22:28.superhuman, but as a man, he was flawed. One of the most remarkable
:22:29. > :22:34.careers in sport is over, and the biggest tragedy of all, a life has
:22:35. > :22:56.been lost. Sports ultimate fall from grace is complete.
:22:57. > :23:02.Although it has been quiet across the UK with high pressure
:23:03. > :23:06.dominating, let's have a look at what has been going on around the
:23:07. > :23:09.Adriatic Sea over the last few days. Deep low pressure has
:23:10. > :23:13.generated powerful thunderstorms, torrential rain, and there has been
:23:14. > :23:18.flash flooding in Italy towards Serbia and Croatia. And further
:23:19. > :23:19.north as well. At home it remains quiet as