Pistorius Misses Last Shot at Beijing

Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius was not chosen today to be on South Africa's Olympic team for Beijing. After failing to qualify for the 400 meters earlier, Pistorius was left off the 1,600-meter relay team, the AP reports. Four other South Africans had faster times, and two others were chosen as alternates.

Pistorius won the right to compete in the Games on an appeal in May, but he fell short of the 400 qualifying time of 45.55 seconds, coming within 0.7 seconds. He has said that his legal battles prevented him from focusing on training for Beijing, and that it might be more realistic to aim at qualifying for the 2012 London Games. “We didn't expect him to be granted any special opportunity or anything,” said Pistorius’ manager. “The rules are the rules." (More Oscar Pistorius stories.)