Being disabled doesn't mean you have a disadvantage

Oscar Pistorius is on the cusp of a paradigm shift in which disability becomes ability, disadvantage becomes advantage. Yet we mustn't lose sight of what makes an athlete great. It's too easy to credit Pistorius' success to technology. Through birth or circumstance, some are given certain gifts, but it's what one does with those gifts, the hours devoted to training, the desire to be the best, that is at the true heart of a champion.

I don't see myself as disabled. There's nothing I can't do that able-bodied athletes can do.

I'd like to show people that if you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself, then you can do whatever you want to.

My parents didn't give me any scope to feel sorry for myself. They were just like 'go play with your brother, go climb a tree, go fall off your motorbike, do whatever you want. Don't come crying to us when you get scratched. You've got prosthetic legs - that's very nice.

I have a strong sense that I have to educate people about disability.

The more I accomplish, the more pressure I put on myself.