Athletics

Oscar Pistorius, Olympic runner convicted of murder, is up for parole

Published

3 years ago

November 9, 2021

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic sprinter who garnered global headlines after killing his girlfriend in 2013, may soon be paroled from prison, South African corrections officials said Monday (Nov 8).

Pistorius shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, through a locked bathroom door in February 2013. He claimed that her death was an accident, and that he had fired his gun in the belief that an intruder had entered his upscale home in a Pretoria suburb.

He was convicted of manslaughter – later upgraded to murder – and sentenced to 15 years.

And on Monday, the Department of Correctional Services said Pistorius, 34, had served half his sentence, making him automatically eligible for parole under South African law.

But first Pistorius will have to face his victim’s parents as part of the parole-consideration process – a prospect they sounded distressed by on Monday.

The parents are “shocked and surprised” at having to consider the athlete’s freedom sooner than they expected, a lawyer for the family said.

At one point, Pistorius was not deemed eligible for parole until March 2023, but his lawyer asked South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal to take into account the more than 500 days the athlete had already served in prison after his initial conviction for manslaughter.

Pistorius was at first sentenced to five years in prison on that conviction in 2014, but after prosecutors challenged the verdict, the Supreme Court of Appeal replaced it with a finding of murder.

The trial judge raised his sentence to six years, but then prosecutors appealed that, too, describing the penalty as “shockingly too lenient” for murder.

In 2017, the Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled the sentence, to 15 years, the minimum for murder in South Africa.

Prison has “taken its toll” on the celebrity athlete once nicknamed the Blade Runner, said Mr Julian Knight, Pistorius’ lawyer.

“When Oscar is eventually released on parole, I don’t think he’ll be anywhere like the Oscar that went into prison,” Mr Knight said.

Pistorius, whose legs were amputated below the knees when he was an infant, gained worldwide fame by competing at a high level, using carbon fibre prosthetic blades, and won multiple gold medals in Paralympic Games.

After a lengthy fight with sporting authorities he won the right to compete against able-bodied athletes and ran in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but did not win any medals.

Pistorius, who has been serving his sentence at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria, has attended several rehabilitation programmes to prepare for parole, a correctional services department spokesperson said.

He will also undergo psychological evaluations and meet with a social worker and religious leader before a mediated “victim-offender” dialogue with his victim’s parents, June and Barry Steenkamp. Only then will a parole board consider his case.

The Steenkamps are girding themselves to meet with their daughter’s killer, although they can decline to do so. Authorities have contacted the family to begin the process.

Mrs June Steenkamp has publicly said her Christian faith compels her to forgive Pistorius. Her husband was described as not having found the same closure.

“He’s always said he wants that meeting, because he’s got questions,” said Ms Tania Koen, the Steenkamps’ lawyer.

-New York Times

Athletics

Record 6000 runners register for 2nd Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Run

Published

3 days ago

September 17, 2024

Kunle Solaja

A record 6,000 runners, local and international from across the African continent and Nigeria have registered for the second edition of the Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Run slated for September 28, 2024, as the organisers, Nilayo Sports Management Limited guns for a bronze label status for the race.

The Chief Operating Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Ebidowie Oweifie, noted that the theme of this year’s edition of the Abeokuta 10km Race titled ‘For Greatness’ out is out to commemorate the birthday anniversary of the Egba paramount ruler, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo 111, the 10km Run will flag off at Iyana Oloke at 6am and finish at The Alake Palace, Abeokuta.

Kenya’s Peter Nwaniki is the men’s race defending champion at a time of 28 minutes 14 seconds, while Shamila Kipsirir also of Kenya is the women’s defending champion.

Nigeria’s race men’s defending champion is Francis James at 31minutes 08seconds, while the women’s defending champion is Patience Daylop at 36 minutes 31 seconds.

The second edition of Abeokuta10km Race will be sponsored by Lotus Bank, FEBBS Premium Water, Fatgbems Petroleum Limited and Cash Token.

Athletics

Behold, CAS statement on Tobi Amusan

Published

3 months ago

June 29, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is the winner as the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS has rejected the appeals filed by World Athletics and WADA.

The decision confirms the decision taken by the World Athletics disciplinary tribunal finding that Tobi Amusan did not commit any anti-doping rule violation.

Here is the full statement of CAS.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeals filed by

World Athletics (WA) and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued on 17 August 2023 (the Challenged Decision) by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal (WADT) in relation to the hurdler Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Amusan (Nigeria).

Accordingly, the Challenged Decision in which the WADT considered that Tobi Amusan did not violate Rule 2.4 of the WA Anti-Doping Rules (WA ADR) and that no period of ineligibility should be imposed on the Athlete is confirmed.

The Athlete was initially charged with committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Rule 2.4 WA ADR following three alleged Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period.

In their respective appeal to CAS, WA and WADA had sought the imposition of a two-year period of ineligibility. The CAS Panel held a hearing on 19 January 2024. Having deliberated, the CAS Panel has issued its decision today dismissing both appeals. The CAS Panel unanimously acknowledged that the Athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within a 12-month

period. Accordingly, the CAS Panel concluded that the Athlete did not commit an ADRV and that the Challenged Decision should be confirmed.

The reasoned award will be published by CAS unless the parties request confidentiality.

Athletics

Tobi Amusan floors WADA and World Athletics!

Published

3 months ago

June 29, 2024

Kunle Solaja

Nigeria’s Paris 2024 medal hopeful, Tobi Amusan has been cleared as the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the World Athletics.

She is therefore cleared to feature at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Amusan is the 100m hurdles world record holder.

The athlete was charged in July last year with missing three anti-doping tests in 12 months but was cleared of the offence by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

The Integrity Unit of the World Athletics appealed the clearance which has now been dismissed by CAS, the final arbiter in the case.

CAS in its statement remarked that its panel “unanimously acknowledged that the athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within 12 months.”

Amusan set the world record of 12.12 seconds in the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2022 and went on to win the title.

She finished sixth in the world championships in Budapest last year.

World Athletics’ anti-doping rules say any athlete failing to declare their whereabouts for a doping test on three occasions over 12 months is ineligible to compete for two years.