Personal Life
Pistorius has two visible tattoos. The dates of his mother's birth and death ("LVIII V VIII – II III VI" – 8 May 1958 – 6 March 2002) are tattooed on the inside of his right arm. The other tattoo, which is on his back, is the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 9:26 which begins, "I do not run like a man running aimlessly."
Pistorius enjoys motorbiking, and owns and breeds race horses. He owns a house in South Africa but trains for the European season in Gemona del Friuli, Italy, and is a supporter of Italian Serie A football club Lazio. His interests also include architecture. In an interview for the website Art of Being Alive published on 24 September 2012 he said: "I've always been intrigued by buildings and architecture. That's one of the perks of traveling that you get to see so many amazing places. Who knows? After athletics I might get into it."
Pistorius's autobiography, Dream Runner, was published in Italian in 2008 with Gianni Merlo, a journalist with La Gazzetta dello Sport. An English version entitled Blade Runner was released in 2009.
In February 2009, Pistorius was seriously injured when he was thrown from a boat in an accident on the Vaal River near Johannesburg. He was airlifted to Milpark Hospital where he underwent surgery to repair broken facial bones including his nose and jaw. There were initial concerns about his fitness, but he recovered fully. However, the accident affected his training and running schedule for that year.
In October 2012, Pistorius was scheduled as an amateur player in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship held at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns in Scotland. Pistorius has a 21 handicap in South Africa, but played off an 18 handicap for the Championship. In 2010 he played in the Laureus World Sports Awards Golf Challenge at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and the Help-net Fund Celebrity Charity Golf Day.
On 19 April 2010, Pistorius appeared on L'isola dei famosi, an Italian version of Celebrity Survivor. On 7 January 2012, he appeared as a special guest on the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars called Ballando con le Stelle at Auditorium Rai in Rome, where he danced a tango with Annalisa Longo to ABBA's "The Winner Takes It All". On 9 October 2012, Pistorius appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He was also scheduled to appear on Piers Morgan Tonight and the Larry King Now show at later dates.
Read more about this topic: Oscar Pistorius
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