At the 2012 Summer Olympics, a season filled with dramatic images, there was none more dramatic than the image of a double amputee from South Africa competing side by side against fully abled athletes at the qualifying heat of the 400-meters.
The double amputee is Oscar Pistorius, the South African sports hero who fought long and hard to be considered at-par with able-bodied athletes. But Pistorius is no ordinary sports hero. He is in fact a legend. His story – having no legs and yet managing to excel in athletics – a field he was not even supposed to be in – is a narrative that has inspired millions across the globe whether or not they love sports. It is the stuff of legends. At the 2012 London Olympics, Pistorius made history by becoming the first double amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics.
While speaking before newbie runners from deaf community in 2011, many of whom were ambivalent about joining their first race, nothing I could have said convinced them more powerfully about their own abilities to run a road race than the picture of Oscar Pistorius captioned “The only disability in life is a bad attitude” – the man with no legs competing against able-bodied track stars in the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.
On Valentines day, Pistorius was arrested for shooting his girlfriend – model, law graduate and reality TV star Reeva Steenkamp — four times at his home in Pretoria South Africa. At his arraignment, Pistorius broke down as the charges of premeditated murder were read against him.
Sports heroes like Pistorius who inspire millions, are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as someone who can do no wrong. Hence, when they commit crimes, or are shown to be not as infallible as we imagine them to be, it hits us hard and leaves us asking why?
The murder trial that will soon follow will be most riveting. Its sordid details exposed to the public will be a reminder to fans that sports heroes, just like the rest of us, are all too human after all.
Ever so slowly
After two months of maternity leave, I felt ready to get back into shape and headed back to the gym. The plan is to regain muscle strength and flexibility, before hitting the road again and train for a marathon. But the figure that confronted me before the gym was a total stranger.
Without the cute baby bump, I was just – severely overweight and flabby. My scale read 148lbs, 39% of which consisted of fat and only 31% muscle. The rest are bones and body fluid. At about the same time last year, I tipped the scale at 118lbs, my racing weight for BDM and with only 23% body fat.
In BodyCombat class, I caught a glimpse of myself struggling with the extra weight during the jump kicks and found myself crying in self-pity in the middle of a Muay Thai track. Sure there’s the “I-just-gave-bith” card, but that just won’t do.
The Tanita Scale says I have 15 kilos of fat to lose. To do that, one must rebuild muscles that would eat away the fat. How do you do that when you have to take care of a newborn, go to work and breastfeed exclusively? The key is to choose your workouts wisely and focus more on quality instead of quantity.
Instead of going to the gym everyday for manic workouts like I did before the baby came, it’s now reduced to only three times a week. In order to maximize the workouts, I would have to run all four (4) kilometers to the gym before joining the weightlifting class and run the same four (4) kilometers back to the house right after.
It sounds like a plan and it looks good on paper. But you know what they say, if it’s on paper and in black ink, you become more accountable to yourself and those who read it. And so I’m writing this commitment here and hopefully get back my runner’s body before the baby turns one.