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Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius won a 4x400m silver medal at the world championships despite being left off the team for the final. Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images
Oscar Pistorius won a 4x400m silver medal at the world championships despite being left off the team for the final. Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius wins silver at World Championships despite not running

This article is more than 12 years old
South African dropped from 4x400m team after heats
It was difficult and everyone felt guilty, says LJ van Zyl

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee South African runner, has won a silver medal at the world championships despite being excluded from the starting line-up in the 4x400m relay final.

One day after helping South Africa qualify for the final, Pistorius was left out of Friday's race and could only watch his team-mates finish second to the United States.

"Haven't Been included in the Final for the SA Mens 4x400m. Pretty Guttered," Pistorius wrote in a Twitter message on the morning of the final.

Instead of Pistorius, the South African team decided to include LJ van Zyl, who won bronze in the 400m hurdles late Thursday, but Pistorius still receives a medal as he ran in the heats. The result was South Africa's best in the event.

"It was difficult and everyone felt guilty," Van Zyl said. "We decided before the heats that the slowest runner on the team in the prelims would not run the final. Unfortunately, Oscar's leg was the slowest."

Shane Victor, who took Pistorius's place as the lead-off runner, said: "It was all down to the management."

Pistorius's manager, Peet van Zyl, still thought his runner should have been included. "It was a big surprise to us," he claimed. "It is a disappointment, needless to say, for Oscar. It was the team management that made the call for reasons we don't know."

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