Pistorius through
South Africa's Oscar Pistorius advanced to the semi-finals of the 400 metres on his historic Olympic appearance.
Last Updated: 04/08/12 12:02pm
South Africa's Oscar Pistorius safely advanced to the semi-finals of the 400 metres on his historic Olympic appearance in London.
Pistorius became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics when he ran in heat one, with the man known as 'Blade Runner' due to his prosthetic legs finishing second in 45.44 seconds.
The 25-year-old had looked set to miss out on a place in the individual event after failing to run a second 'A' qualifying time to gain automatic selection.
He fell agonisingly short at his final attempt in July, but was selected for his country's 4x400m relay team - in which he won a silver medal at the World Championships last year - which meant he could be selected for the individual event.
Pistorius said: "I was so nervous this morning. Thanks to everyone for showing their support. I didn't know whether to cry, I had a mixture of emotions. It was the most amazing experience."
Sadly defender Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt pulled up in his heat after failing to recover fully from a hamstring injury to defend his title.
Merritt said afterwards: "You couldn't even imagine [what I've been through to get here]. Countless hours of treatment from 8am 'til about 10pm.
"I thought I could come out and get my way through but I'm still young and I have a long career ahead of me. There was no reason to push it. Once I got on that back stretch I started floating and I felt it."
Merritt tested positive three times in late 2009 and early 2010 but eventually proved to the satisfaction of authorities that he had ingested the steroid derivative DHEA accidentally through use of a so-called male-enhancement product.
He served a 21-month suspension but remained ineligible for the Olympics because of an IOC rule banning athletes with doping sentences longer than six months, until CAS ruled that the IOC ban unfairly penalised athletes twice for the same offence - a ruling which paved the way for the British Olympic Association's own drugs bylaw to be overturned.
Great Britain's Conrad Williams, Martyn Rooney and Nigel Levine all safely made it through to the next round after solid performances.
For the results of the 400m heats click here