Blade Runner Oscar Pistorious Charged with Murder of his Girlsfriend
Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend at his Pretoria, South Africa, home early Thursday.
Pistorius -- or the "Blade Runner," as he's commonly known -- became the first ever double-amputee to compete in the Olympics.
Reeva Steenkamp, 29, and Pistorius, 26, were the only two people in the home at the time of the shooting, police said.
In keeping with South African law, Pistorius will be named officially as the suspect when he appears in court. The first court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
Steenkamp was a model who also had a law degree.
"There have been previous incidents at the home of Oscar Pistorius, allegations of a domestic nature," police said.
A spokeswoman for the track star says he is cooperating with police.
But the stats and the medals were only a fraction of the story.
Born with the heart of a gambler, he took that passion to Las Vegas and won $550,000 playing blackjack one night. But within years, he had given some of it away and lost even more in the tanking real estate market.
Trying to decide whether he wanted to stay in the sport after Turin, he took time off and started working in the construction business - a place, he said, where he could see the effort of a hard day's work without having to walk into the video room the next day and break it down on the TV screen.
But skiing was his passion, and he recommitted leading up to Vancouver. And what a payoff. He came in second that night, but hardly felt like a runner-up.
'I do it because I want to be the person I know I can be,' he said.
'I've really changed things around in the last 3 1/2 years. This is my medal for everything I've overcome, and I'm ecstatic.'
Mulstiple sources including Daily Miail UK
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