Athletics
Caster, Oscar to run in PE
2012-04-10 12:55
Johannesburg - Olympic hopefuls Caster Semenya and
Oscar Pistorius are listed to compete at this week's South African
championships, the biggest meet for both athletes so far this year.
Semenya
will run in the 800 meters, while double-amputee Pistorius will run in
the 400m in Port Elizabeth.
Semenya, a
silver medalist at last year's world championships, needs to run 1
minute, 59.90 seconds or better to qualify for her first Olympics. The
former world champion ran a sluggish 2:03.60 in her season debut last
month - her first two-lap race under new coach and Olympic great Maria
Mutola.
Pistorius needs one more qualifying time of 45.30 seconds
in an international event to make history as the first amputee runner to
compete at the Olympics. He ran 45.20 at a meet in Pretoria on March
17, the second time he's gone inside the able-bodied qualifying time for
London.
Athletics South Africa has said athletes hoping to go to the Olympics must compete at the two-day nationals, which start on Friday.
Pistorius
will likely compete at one more meet in South Africa in early May, his
agent Peet van Zyl said, before kicking off his international season at
the BT Paralympic Cup in Manchester, England, at the end of next month.
Pistorius
also hopes to run at IAAF events in Ostrava and Hengelo and Diamond
League meetings in Eugene, Oregon, and New York as the 25-year-old
disabled runner chases a place in the South African team and a shot at
Olympic history.