I first hear it as I'm coming out of a turn on the track at the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre. It's 100 meters to the finish line. I'm pumping my legs as fast as I can when a sort of snick snick snick snick starts getting louder, like I'm being chased by a giant pair of scissors. At 50 meters to go, the sound is at my left shoulder, and then Oscar Pistorius blows past me; the snick snick fades away ahead. By the time I cross the finish line, the South African sprinter has already turned around and is catching his breath, leaning forward, hands on his knees. He ran 200 meters. I ran only 150; he spotted me the difference. Still, his win comes as no surprise. Two years ago Pistorius ran the 200 in 21.34 seconds, matching the women's world record time set by Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988 and missing the qualifying timefor the 2008 Olympics by just three-quarters of a second. "Nice running, bru," Pistorius says in his Afrikaans-tinged lilt. Then he turns his attention to a pair of sprinters from the women's track team, stretching before their workout. He suggests they upgrade to more streamlined running gear: bikinis. "Naughty!" one of them squeals, tousling his frosted curly hair. Pistorius and I grab bottles of water, and then he trots to the infield. He sits, undoes a couple of straps, and tosses his legs onto the grass. The Cheetahs, elegant, swooping lengths of carbon-fiber composite, are better at running than walking.
展开▼
