Oscar Pistorius is training again for the first time in the five months.
While awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, the Paralympic sprinting champ is returning to the track. His first “formal” workout since his arrest consisted only of light jogging. Pistorius is reported to have lost over twenty lbs. since Steenkamp’s murder. ”It was a very emotional experience for him to put the blades back on, to walk back onto the track, get the smell of the track,” according to Peet Van Zyl, Pistorius’s agent.
Even though this is his has been called his first formal workout since the murder, The Daily Mail reported on June 8 that Pistorius had paired with Claudia Viljoen, a former elite-level hurdler and currently a sport scientist, to train.
Prior to Steenkamp’s killing, Pistorius was known world-wide as an inspirational figure. Born without a fibula in either leg, Pistorius’s parents decided to have both of his legs amputated when he was 11 months old. Despite this, he grew up athletic, able to run on custom carbon-fiber “blades,” giving him the moniker “blade runner.”
His sprinting career has brought him eight Paralympic medals, beginning with the 2004 Athens games. Pistorius was granted permission to compete in the 2012 London Olympic games, where he made the semi-finals in the 400m.
In the early hours of February 14, 2013, Steenkamp was shot to death in Pistorius’s home. Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder, though he claims that he believed Steenkamp to have been an intruder.
His next court appearance is set for August 19, with a trial possible in the fall. If convicted of premeditated murder, he faces 25 years to life imprisonment.