Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Paralympics, Athletics, South Africa
Ryan Smart
Oscar Pistorius has competed in his first public sports event since being convicted of the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The South African double amputee sprinter, who won six Paralympic gold medals, was sentenced to a total of five years in prison for culpable homicide after he shot and killed Steenkamp, 29, through a locked door at their Pretoria home in February 2013.
In November 2015, the homicide conviction was overturned and changed to a murder conviction after a unanimous verdict by five judges at the Supreme Court of Appeal.
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Having been released from prison, and moved to house arrest, after serving around one-sixth of his sentence for the homicide conviction, Pistorius was handed a further six-year jail sentence for the new murder conviction.
That sentence was then extended to 13 years and five months, excluding time already served.
He was denied an early release in March 2023 after a parole board review.
Pistorius would be released on parole in January 2024 - nearly 11 years on from Steenkamp's killing - with conditions lasting until December 2029.
Earlier this week, South African outlet Netwerk24 published a photo of Pistorius, now 38, riding a bicycle during the Ironman 70.3 race in Durban.
A spokesperson for South Africa's Department of Correctional Services confirmed to Reuters that Pistorius had received approval to race.
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His lawyer, Conrad Dormehl, told the same outlet: "This forms part of his rehabilitation into society."
Records show that Pistorius finished in third place in the 'physically challenged' category of the race, and 55th overall.
His entry into the race has been widely condemned in South Africa.
The Secretary General of South Africa's United Democratic Movement Women's Organisation (UDEMWO), Thandi Nontenja, stated to IOL: "The situation leaves a bitter taste for women in South Africa.
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"His public return to sport as though nothing happened is a deep insult to the memory of Reeva Steenkamp and a painful reminder to her loved ones that her life was violently cut short.
"How is it possible that a man who committed such a horrific crime against a woman is now participating in events alongside law-abiding citizens?"