Even after being spotted on a high school track in April, and being cleared to race at the Paralympic Worlds, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has ruled out competitive running in 2013. Instead, he plans to focus on his upcoming murder trial.
“We have decided as a team we are not talking [about] any training or athletics,” coach Ampie Louw told Eye Witness News. “We have postponed for the whole year. He is nowhere close to being in a position to train. He just does fitness exercises in the morning with his family.”
Pistorius was charged with murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s morning at his home in Pretoria, South Africa. The London Olympian claimed he thought she was an intruder hiding in the bathroom, and shot her four times through the door before discovering what he had done.
Pistorius had some of his most lucrative sponsorships suspended in the wake of the shooting, and UK Athletics Chair Ed Warner told BBC Radio in April that Pistorius wouldn’t be welcomed to the London Grand Prix this season, because his appearance would pose too much of a distraction.
Pistorius is now out on bail and is due in court again on June 4.
