On the morning of November 22nd, 1986 a baby boy was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. This baby wasn’t like all the other babies born that day in the hospital. He was missing the fibula bones in both legs. If you could put the people in the hospital that day in a time machine and transport them to the present, none of them would believe that this little boy would become an Olympic Champion.

Growing up, Oscar Pistorius played a variety of sports. Despite his handicap he excelled in water polo, tennis, rugby and club Olympic wrestling. However, after suffering a serious knee injury playing rugby in 2004, Pistorius was introduced to the sport that would make him a star and international celebrity: Running.

Oscar took up running as a way to rehab from his knee injury and never looked back. In fact, he became so good; he took part in the Summer 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens and came in third in the 100-meter sprint. Aided by two Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fiber transtibial prosthetic legs, Pistorius has worked hard to become the double amputee word-record holder in the 100, 200 and 400-meter runs. Not bad for a kid from Johannesburg.

Oscar reached international fame last year when he tried out for the South African Olympic Team and a trip to Beijing. Over the years he had competed against able-bodied runners and found that he wasn’t only keeping up, he was actually winning a healthy portion of his matches. However, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) claimed his artificial legs gave him an unfair advantage over the other athletes and refused to let him compete.

On May 16th, 2008, Pistorius took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After a much-publicized case, the court reversed the IAAF’s decision, ruling the IAAF had not supplied sufficient evidence to prove Pistorius’ artificial legs gave him an unfair advantage over the competition. Pistorius had won. He could try out for the South African Olympic Team.

Oscar then traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland to run against his countrymen. Despite achieving third place and a personal best time of 46.25 seconds in the 400 meters, he was left off the team. However, he had won the right to compete against the best. And that’s all he ever really wanted.

After his loss in Lucerne, he went on to win gold in the 100, 200 and 400-meter races at the 2008 Paralympic Games. Today he continues to train for the 2012 Olympics and live by his motto:  “You’re not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.”

He truly has the heart of a champion.