London 2012 Paralympics: Pistorius Apologises After 'Ridiculous' Oliveira Victory

Oscar Pistorius has apologised for the timing of his criticism of Alan Oliveira's T44 200m Paralympic victory in which he labelled the Brazilian's victory 'ridiculous'.

Oliveira inflicted upon Pistorius the first 200m defeat of his career, overhauling the South African in the final 20m to claim his maiden Paralympic title.

Following Pistorius' post-race comments in which he called into question the legality of Oliveira's blades, which he claimed exceed International Paralympic Committee regulations; he also requested an investigation into the issue.

But Pistorius issued an apology saying: "I would never want to detract from another athletes' moment of triumph and I want to apologise for the timing of my comments after yesterday's race.

"I do believe that there is an issue here and I welcome the opportunity to discuss with the IPC and but I accept that raising these concerns immediately as I stepped off the track was wrong.

"That was Alan's moment and I would like to put on record the respect I have for him."

After Oliveira claimed his first Paralympic title in London in 21.45 seconds from Pistorius, the 25 year old, who became the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics when he ran in the men's 400m and 4x400m relay, scrutinised the length of the South American's blades and said such was the stride length he was able to generate his 10m lead was easily eclipsed.

"This is a really strong race of mine, and as I said in the mixed zone, the IPC don't want to listen, size of some of the other guys' legs are unbelievably long," Pistorius told Channel 4.

"Not taking anything away from Alan, he's a great athlete, but the guys who do the measuring in the call rooms, some of these guys are a lot taller and you can't compete for stride length.

"We are not running in a fair race here," he added.

"The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have the regulations, but the regulations allow the athletes to make themselves unbelievably high. We tried to address the issue with them in the weeks leading up to this, but it has fallen on deaf ears.

"The guys are running ridiculous times. Alan is a great athlete, but I run just over 10 metres per second, so I don't know how you can come back from eight metres behind after 100m to win. It's absolutely ridiculous."

However, after a count back of the number of strides in the race, Pistorius took 92 steps, while the victorious Oliveira took 98; with his stride rate rather than stride length proving significant in the eventual result.

The four-time Paralympic champion has nevertheless called for a review into the validity of the 20 year old's blades, despite Oliveira going through rigorous IPC tests.

"The length of my blades are alright because I went through all the procedures with all the referees and once I come inside the track it's all been cleaned up and I believe Pistorius also knows that," Oliveira said.

"No since the first time I put them on I have in the IPC rules and I have been using them for a whole month just the same blades according to the IPC rules."

The 'Blade Runner' survived an IAAF ruling over the legitimacy of his own blades against able-bodied athletes as he attempted to win qualification for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Pistorius' blades did not give him a considerable advantage over athletes without prospective limbs, and despite the sprinter failing to qualify for Beijing, the decision assisted in his eventual; selection for London.

While Pistorius' complaint over Oliveira's blades contradicts his campaign to participate alongside able-bodied athletes his comments have worked to overshadow Oliveira's victory; a debate that is sure to further swell interest around arguably the most famous Paralympic athlete of all time.

"This evening all athletes competing in the Men's 200m T44 final were checked by international classifiers in the Call Room ahead of the race," an IPC statement said. "All were within the regulations outlined in the IPC Athletics Classification Handbook.

"After the race Oscar Pistorius requested a meeting with the IPC where he voiced his concerns."

Craig Spence, IPC Communications Director, said: "Oscar raised a concern with the IPC regarding the rules on the length of prosthesis in T43/44 events.

"We agreed to meet with him at a later date so that he could raise his questions in a formal environment away from the emotion of the stadium.

"The IPC respects the significant role Oscar has played in raising the global profile of Paralympic Sport since his Games debut in 2004. Therefore we are more than willing to give him an opportunity to air his views in a non-emotional environment at a meeting to be organised at a later date."