Pistorius nominated for Laureus Awards
Double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius was on Thursday nominated in two categories for the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards.
The Paralympian received nominations for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year and the Laureus Disability awards.
Pistorius was 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, in August this year.
With his 400m time of 45.07 seconds in July, he achieved the qualifying standard for the World Championships to be selected for the South African team.
Pistorius took part in the individual 400m in Daegu, reaching the semifinals, before being eliminated after running a time of 46.19.
He took part in the heats in the relay, which secured his silver medal, but was not chosen for the final.
Pistorius will come up against Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake, British runner Mo Farah, Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy, and tennis players Petra Kvitova and Li Na in the Breakthrough category.
In Paralympic sport in 2011, he suffered a first defeat in seven years when Jerome Singleton took the gold medal in a thrilling 100m race at the IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand.
Pistorius, though, won three golds in the 200, 400 and 4 x 100 metres relay at the BT Paralympic World Cup in May where he smashed his own 400m Paralympic world record, posting a time of 47.28.
Also on the shortlist for the Laureus Disability award are Dutch wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer, who has already won two Laureus awards, British wheelchair racer David Weir and Russian cross-country skier Irek Zaripov.
Swimmer Daniel Dias, the Disability award winner in 2009, and visually impaired runner Terezinha Guilhermina – both from Brazil – are also on the list.
Edwin Moses, the Laureus World Sports Academy chairman, made special mention of Pistorius when the nominees were announced.
"I congratulate Oscar on his amazing achievement and all the nominees for what they have achieved, and now we look forward to what should be a great awards ceremony," Moses said.
The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy made up of 47 recognised sportsmen, will be unveiled at the awards ceremony staged in London in February.