Jan. 5, 2026

Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius - Part 1 of 3

Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconYouTube podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconYouTube podcast player icon

On February 14, 2013 — Valentine’s Day — the world was stunned by the news that South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius had shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, inside his home in Pretoria. What followed was one of the most closely watched criminal trials of the 21st century — a case that forced the public to grapple with uncomfortable questions about celebrity, justice, gender-based violence, and how much of a public figure’s private life we ever truly see.

Listen to all three parts on Patreon today.

Today's snack: Stellar Pretzels

Sources:

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:00.600
Hi.

2
00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:01.960
I'm Rich and I'm Tina.

3
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.320
If there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years

4
00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:05.599
of marriage, it's it some.

5
00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:08.000
Days you'll feel like killing your husband.

6
00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:09.880
And some days you'll feel like killing your wife.

7
00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:28.960
Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey, Tina, Hey Rich, Happy

8
00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.679
New Year, Happy new Year. Maybe twenty twenty six, it's

9
00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:33.479
going to be a great year. I just have a feeling.

10
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.679
We're two days into it. How's it feeling so far?

11
00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:36.240
Pretty good?

12
00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:40.640
Exercised all year so far excellent. I think I've been

13
00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:42.119
eating pretty well. How about you?

14
00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:44.359
So I just haven't been able to wake up yet

15
00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:45.520
in twenty twenty six.

16
00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:47.520
I just feel really tired all the time.

17
00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:49.759
It was probably that wild New Year's Eve we had.

18
00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.200
Oh it was out of contr crazy crazy at our couch.

19
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.359
I stayed up till twelve oh three.

20
00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:57.759
So that was nuts.

21
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:00.359
Yeah, it was so bad. I was in the bathroom

22
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.159
when the time changed over, and I'm like, I was

23
00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:05.280
trying to I was just washing my face and getting

24
00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.799
ready for bed, because that's how exciting it was that

25
00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.719
I just couldn't get to you fast enough. I'm really sorry.

26
00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:11.519
It was wild.

27
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:15.319
Lost my retainers again in my pocket. I couldn't find

28
00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:18.359
them on New Year's Eve right at midnight, and I

29
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:19.719
was like, well, I can't go to bed with them,

30
00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:20.319
my retainers.

31
00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:24.040
So yeah, yeah, it was wild over here the Love

32
00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:25.200
Mary Kill Studios.

33
00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.319
Yeah, New Year knew us. It was a nice break though,

34
00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:31.439
So thanks everyone for being patient with us and letting

35
00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:32.560
us have a couple of weeks.

36
00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:36.079
Yeah, it was very relaxing. You look very cozy over there.

37
00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:41.159
I am freezing. We are freeeding. Our studio is cold,

38
00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.959
but it's it's just really cold here in Michigan today.

39
00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:45.799
What you're wearing.

40
00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.439
I bought this blanket a while back. It's like a blanket,

41
00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.040
but it has armholes. It's like a snuggy kind of

42
00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.120
but it's more just like a blanket and it just

43
00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:56.879
really has It does look very cozy.

44
00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.560
It looks very soft and fuzzy and warm.

45
00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:02.400
It is I feel like a little chill. Your nose, honestly,

46
00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:03.760
the tip of your nose is red.

47
00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:04.719
Well.

48
00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.439
I was out doing the shoveling the driveway again today,

49
00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:09.879
the second time in like three days.

50
00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:11.719
You didn't really shovel though.

51
00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.159
Oh well, I use the snow blow.

52
00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:15.879
So that's two different things. You're either blowing very cool,

53
00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.280
you're shoveling. They're very different.

54
00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:19.639
I'm just gonna change the terminology to I was out

55
00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:23.319
clearing the driveway of snow and it was very cold

56
00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:23.680
out there.

57
00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:25.599
Well, I'm still like not quite warmed up.

58
00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.400
We had a green Christmas, but then it's been snowing

59
00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:30.400
like an inch here and there. So yeah, it just

60
00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.159
keeps coming. I like it though. It feels like, you know,

61
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.919
a real authentic winter, but it's been too cold to

62
00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:37.919
like go sledding or anything fun.

63
00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.199
Yeah, very true.

64
00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:42.759
Are we changing anything in twenty twenty six on the podcast?

65
00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:44.960
Well, that is a good question. I haven't even really

66
00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:46.759
thought about it. Do you think we should?

67
00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.960
Well, we had talked about doing some more cases that

68
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.520
weren't Love Mary Kill cases, so maybe we'll do someh.

69
00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.000
We change our opening though, or should we?

70
00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:57.199
I don't know, Yeah we should. Do you want to

71
00:02:57.240 --> 00:02:58.039
change our theme song?

72
00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:03.039
No, not change our theme song that has been decided already.

73
00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:05.840
But well, me and one of our listeners really wants

74
00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:07.240
to change.

75
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.840
We could change what we say at the opening though,

76
00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:10.800
or at the end.

77
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:11.120
Or I don't know.

78
00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.000
We don't really have I don't I must know if.

79
00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:14.759
You have, if you have ideas because we.

80
00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:17.120
Obviously do you want to run our podcast for us?

81
00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.680
Yeah, that would be great, we'd appreciate it.

82
00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:21.800
Well, I am excited to see what you brought.

83
00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:23.120
You're going to be disappointed.

84
00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:24.520
Bye.

85
00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:28.159
So for our case today, we are going to South Africa,

86
00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:33.080
yeah again, to talk about Reva Steamcamp and Oscar Pastorias.

87
00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.759
And I wanted to find a an authentic South African snack.

88
00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.800
And I happen to find out that there is an

89
00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.639
African market not very far from our house, like fifteen

90
00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:45.039
minutes away from our house. So I ran out there today.

91
00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.400
I was going to get something. It turns out that

92
00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:50.800
Africa is a really big continent and South Africa is

93
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.719
only one part of it. And the African market they

94
00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.560
don't sell any South African snacks.

95
00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:58.159
Oh well, you could have just bought an African snack

96
00:03:58.199 --> 00:03:59.319
because it's still the market.

97
00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:01.719
It was a cute little market, but to be honest

98
00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:04.800
with you, it was mostly like spices and meats and

99
00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.919
stuff like that. It wasn't like they didn't have like

100
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:08.280
a lot of snack foods.

101
00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.479
I had offered to make a snack for you and

102
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.039
you said, no, I haven't covered.

103
00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:14.280
I am going to make a snack for part two,

104
00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:16.920
I do have a South African snack I'm going to

105
00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.680
make you for part two. But for part one, I

106
00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:23.600
bought some pretzels. It's a brand of pretzels I had

107
00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:27.399
never heard of before called Stellar Pretzel Braids, simply Stellar

108
00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:28.240
Pretzel Braids.

109
00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.240
Have you tried them? I told you.

110
00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.839
Six with some random pretzels.

111
00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:38.160
Well, they look good. I told you you'd be disappointed.

112
00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:39.560
But yeah, it's a if.

113
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.480
A mom and daughter created this Stellar Snacks in twenty nineteen.

114
00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.399
And by the way, all these just someone has approached

115
00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:50.519
me about doing another podcast and it might be a

116
00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.680
daughter I know, a.

117
00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:55.680
Little concerned potentially moonlighting.

118
00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:56.519
Stay tuned.

119
00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:59.040
Yes, but how about would you like to try these

120
00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:00.680
simply Stellar pretzels?

121
00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.160
Yes? I would love to. I'm sure they have pretzels

122
00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:04.560
in South Africa, right.

123
00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:05.319
I'm sure they do.

124
00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.279
What did you think about the simply Stellar pretzels?

125
00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:16.639
So it was just a little ironic that today you

126
00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.040
were going to the store and you said, hey, do

127
00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:20.920
we need anything? And I gave you a list of

128
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.399
about eight things, and one of them actually was butter

129
00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.839
made pretzel sticks. I'm sorry, better made pretzels and I

130
00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.279
far prefer those to these, I feel bad.

131
00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:34.920
Saying that I didn't. I did not love those.

132
00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:36.879
Yeah, yeah, I would give them like a two out

133
00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:37.160
of ten.

134
00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:40.040
It feels like they're kind of a Dot's knockoff.

135
00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:41.480
But not that's really offensive to that.

136
00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:43.680
I mean they're the same sort of shape, the same

137
00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:44.639
type of packaging.

138
00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:45.879
Almost no flavor.

139
00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:46.759
Yeah they have.

140
00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:48.680
They had a lot of different flavors, but I got

141
00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.199
kind of the traditional kind or the original or whatever

142
00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:51.680
they're called.

143
00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.319
But yeah, kind of dry and yeah.

144
00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:56.759
Not even kind of dry, super dry, almost no salt.

145
00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:58.160
So thumbs down on that one.

146
00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:01.279
But I will redeem myself tomorrow with a homemade South

147
00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:01.920
African stack.

148
00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:02.680
We'll see about that.

149
00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:04.160
Today we are.

150
00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:06.560
Going back to South Africa to cover the case of

151
00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:11.160
Riva Steinecamp and Oscar Pistorius. Obviously a very well known case.

152
00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.839
This was a recommendation from EVE. It's been on our

153
00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.279
list a long time, so I'm happy to have finally

154
00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:16.920
gotten to it.

155
00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:19.360
A lot of people have actually recommended this case, probably

156
00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:21.519
at least ten people, not surprising. Sorry we don't have

157
00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:22.639
all your names listed.

158
00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:26.240
In the early morning hours of Valentine's Day twenty thirteen,

159
00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.560
just after three am, four gunshots shattered the silence inside

160
00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.560
a gated community called silver Woods in Pretoria, South Africa.

161
00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:38.600
Within hours, the story exploded across social media and news

162
00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:41.680
outlets around the world. This was not just another shooting

163
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.959
in a country already grappling with high levels of violent crime.

164
00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.759
This one was different. The man at the center of

165
00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:52.279
it was Oscar Pistorius, a global icon, a Paralympic superstar,

166
00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.480
and the pride of South Africa. To many, he was

167
00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:59.399
the embodiment of perseverance, the blade runner, the fastest man

168
00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.560
on no legi, a symbol of what was possible in

169
00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:06.639
a country still defining itself after apartheid. Some even called

170
00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.240
him a hero destined to help fill the void left

171
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:13.319
by Nelson Mandela. But by sunrise that image was in ruins.

172
00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:17.879
Oscar Pistorius had shot and killed his girlfriend, Reva Steencamp,

173
00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:22.160
a model, law school graduate and aspiring reality TV star,

174
00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:26.560
inside his own home. Almost overnight, a man once celebrated

175
00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.600
as a national inspiration came to represent something far darker.

176
00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.879
South Africa's struggle with gun violence, its epidemic of violence

177
00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.879
against women, and the deep inequalities of its justice system.

178
00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:41.920
There's no dispute about the physical facts of what happened

179
00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.959
that morning, Oscar Pistorius fired four shots through a locked

180
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.920
bathroom door. Reva Steencamp was on the other side. What

181
00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.439
the world and the courts would struggle to understand was

182
00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:57.199
why was this an intentional killing, the tragic end of

183
00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:00.040
a volatile relationship, or was it, As to say, the

184
00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:04.759
story is claimed, a catastrophic mistake driven by fear, paranoia,

185
00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.120
and a man who believed an intruder was inside his home.

186
00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.079
This is the story of how a Valentine's Day shooting

187
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.000
became one of the most closely watched criminal trials in

188
00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:17.560
modern history, and how the line between hero and villain

189
00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:21.199
can disappear in an instant. Before we go any further,

190
00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:24.639
I want to talk about Reva Steencamp. In cases like this,

191
00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:28.839
especially those shaped by fame and spectacle, the victim can

192
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.759
too easily fade into the background. Public fascination with Oscar

193
00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.399
Pistorius has long dominated how this story is told, and

194
00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:40.759
inevitably much of what follows will examine his life, his rise,

195
00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:44.840
and the contradictions that defined him. That context matters in

196
00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.840
understanding how this crime occurred. But Riva Steencamp is not

197
00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.919
a footnote She's not a secondary character in someone else's downfall.

198
00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.679
She is the victim. Those who knew Reva described her

199
00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:02.120
as vibrant, motivated, and deeply empathetic, one whose warmth was unmistakable.

200
00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.039
Friends and family remember her as a person who made

201
00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:07.840
others feel seen, someone who had a way of making

202
00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:10.320
you feel like you were the most important person in

203
00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:14.519
the room. She was bubbly and affectionate, kind, considerate, and

204
00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:19.399
non judgmental, always smiling but never shallow. Riva was also

205
00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:23.519
principled and outspoken, particularly when it came to women's rights.

206
00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.240
She spoke publicly about domestic violence and sexual assault, lending

207
00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:31.519
her voice to issues that affected countless women in South

208
00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:35.360
Africa and around the world. In a reality TV segment

209
00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.639
filmed shortly before her death, Reva summed up her personal

210
00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:44.159
philosophy in simple terms, maintain integrity, maintain class, and always

211
00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.519
be true to yourself. Riva Steenkamp was just twenty nine

212
00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.240
years old when she was killed. And as we now

213
00:09:50.279 --> 00:09:54.159
turned to Oscar Pistorius, his upbringing, his success, and the

214
00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:57.919
public image that made this case explode globally, it's important

215
00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.399
to keep one thing in focus. Understand his story is

216
00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:06.200
not about explaining away what happened. It's about understanding how Reva.

217
00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:06.679
Lost her life.

218
00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:09.840
Obviously, this is a very well known story. Before we

219
00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.559
go on, how much do you remember about this story?

220
00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.440
I mean, I remember the shooting, and I remember the

221
00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:19.399
tragic loss of Reva's life. I know that he was

222
00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:23.240
convicted and he was released. I don't know the particulars,

223
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.559
and I don't know. The thing I'm most looking forward

224
00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.799
to is hearing about his upbringing. Yeah, I don't know

225
00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:29.519
anything about that.

226
00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:30.000
Yeah.

227
00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:31.679
I have to say I didn't really know a whole

228
00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:34.720
lot about this story. Obviously I knew the big picture facts,

229
00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.320
but it was really interesting to research it, so hopefully

230
00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:40.360
it'll be interesting for you as well. Sheila and Henka

231
00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:44.120
Pistorius lived a white, upper middle class life in apartheid

232
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.240
era South Africa in a large home in a comfortable

233
00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:51.240
suburb of Johannesburg. Henka was an africaner, part of the

234
00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:55.600
white minority that dominated South Africa's political and business life

235
00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.080
until the mid nineteen nineties. Sheila stayed home to raise

236
00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.720
the children while Henka worked as a businessman, but his

237
00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:07.159
career was unstable. He was erratic, prone to dramatic swings

238
00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:11.320
between success and failure, and the family's financial security often

239
00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.759
rose and fell with his fortunes. When Oscar was born

240
00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:18.159
in November of nineteen eighty six, business was going well.

241
00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.799
Oscar was the second of three children. His older brother

242
00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:25.440
Karl was already at home, and a younger sister, Amy, would.

243
00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.639
Follow a few years later.

244
00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:31.559
Oscar was born with a rare congenital condition called fibular hemomelia.

245
00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.759
The fibula, the thin bone that runs between the knee

246
00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:38.159
and the ankle alongside the tibia, was missing in both

247
00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.919
of his legs. As a result, his legs were unusually short,

248
00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.200
his ankles were only partially formed, and he had just

249
00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:48.720
two toes on each foot. Doctors told Henka and Sheila

250
00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:50.960
that their son would never be able to stand or

251
00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.919
walk on his own. His feet, they said, were too

252
00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:57.559
narrow and too twisted to ever support his weight. Just

253
00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:00.960
before Oscar's birth, Henka had turned to the obstetrician and

254
00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.519
said he didn't care whether the baby was a boy

255
00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:06.000
or a girl, only that the child be born with

256
00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:10.080
ten fingers and ten toes. When he saw his son's deformities,

257
00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:14.200
that hope was shattered, But instead of recoiling, Henkah lifted

258
00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.399
the newborn in both hands and made a declaration, this

259
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.039
is my son Oscar, and I declare before God that

260
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.399
I shall love him and stand by him for the

261
00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:23.360
rest of my days.

262
00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:27.679
As doctors began evaluating Oscar's condition, it soon became clear

263
00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:32.240
that Shila and Henke Pistorius faced an agonizing choice. Attempt

264
00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.120
corrective surgery or amputate. Corrective surgery would mean eight to

265
00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.799
ten complex operations spread over the next sixteen to eighteen years.

266
00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.679
Even then, the outcome would be limited. Oscar might be

267
00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.679
able to move around the house and manage basic tasks,

268
00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:52.159
but he would never walk normally, never run, and never

269
00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:58.000
live without significant physical restriction. The alternative was more drastic.

270
00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:03.159
Shila and Henke sought a opinions relentlessly, consulting eleven doctors

271
00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:08.000
in South Africa and overseas. Some supported the long surgical route,

272
00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:12.840
others proposed a compromise, amputating one leg at attempting corrective

273
00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:17.399
surgery on the other. Eventually, they were referred to Jerry Versfeld,

274
00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:21.519
a white orthopedic surgeon who worked in a hospital in Soweto,

275
00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:26.600
where under apartheid, only black patients were treated. After reviewing

276
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:32.240
Oscar's condition, Versfeld delivered a blunt but compassionate assessment, painful

277
00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:35.000
as it was the best chance for Oscar to live

278
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.720
a full, independent life was to amputate both legs below

279
00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:42.639
the knee. It was a heartbreaking recommendation, but it would

280
00:13:42.679 --> 00:13:46.840
also change everything. Had Sheila and Henke chosen differently, it's

281
00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.480
likely the world would never have heard the name Oscar Pistorius.

282
00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.519
Doctor Versfeld performed the surgery when Oscar was just eleven

283
00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.639
months old and age chosen deliberately. Most babies are beginning

284
00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:01.159
to think about standing and takeing their first steps at

285
00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:04.960
that stage. If the operation succeeded, Oscar would learn to

286
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.120
explore the world on prosthetic legs rather than unformed feet.

287
00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:13.360
It's amazing how babies are so adaptable resilience. So I

288
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.919
think it's probably the best decision. In my unmedical opinion.

289
00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:19.039
It just sounds like the best decision.

290
00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:19.840
Yeah, for sure.

291
00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:25.120
The surgery lasted four hours and required extraordinary precision. Firstfeld's

292
00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:28.559
goal was to preserve Oscar's heel pads and attach them

293
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:32.159
to the bottom of his amputated tibias. Heel pads are

294
00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:36.679
natural weight bearers, and by repositioning them firstfelt gave Oscar

295
00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:40.840
something rare, the ability to walk short distances directly on

296
00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:45.159
his stumps, something that would otherwise have been impossible. Three

297
00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.399
months later, once the wounds were healed, Shila and Henke

298
00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.919
took Oscar to a prosthetic specialist to be fitted for

299
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.320
his first artificial legs. The fourteen month old watched intently

300
00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:01.039
as the wooden prosthesis were strapped on. Then he stood up.

301
00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:06.559
Almost immediately, Oscar began stumbling around the room, unsteady, determined

302
00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:10.360
and curious, just like any other toddler taking their first steps.

303
00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:15.159
Sheila and Henka were overwhelmed with relief and joy. Oscar

304
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.799
never forgot what doctor Versfeldt had given him. As he

305
00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:22.559
grew older, their professional relationship turned into a personal bond.

306
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.799
Oscar would later invite versfeld and his wife to dinner,

307
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.440
maintaining a friendship rooted in gratitude and in a decision

308
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.360
that shaped the rest of his life.

309
00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:34.679
Can imagine how overwhelmed his parents must have been when

310
00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:36.919
he started walking on these prosthetic legs.

311
00:15:36.919 --> 00:15:39.159
I mean, it just must have been a miracle. Such

312
00:15:39.159 --> 00:15:39.600
a yeah.

313
00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:43.639
From the beginning, Shila and Henk were determined to treat

314
00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.879
Oscar no differently from any other boy. He ran and

315
00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:50.240
played with his older brother Carl. He played soccer, rode

316
00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:54.159
mountain bikes, and climb trees. Sometimes that freedom came at

317
00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:58.279
a cost. Rough play would leave painful sores on Oscar's stumps,

318
00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:02.080
making it difficult impossible for him to walk for days

319
00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.360
at a time, but Oscar was undeterred. As soon as

320
00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:09.000
the pain subsided, he was back outside again, keeping pace

321
00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:12.559
with the other boys. Shila also refused to define her

322
00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:16.360
son by his disability Academically, She had no intention of

323
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.039
sending Oscar to a special school. He attended public school

324
00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:23.639
like any other child, expected to compete and cope in

325
00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:26.919
the same environment as everyone else. When Oscar was just

326
00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:30.639
six years old, his parents' marriage collapsed. Henka left the

327
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:34.960
family and moved roughly seven hundred miles away to Port Elizabeth.

328
00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.159
At first, he made an effort, visiting every few weeks

329
00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.679
and sending money to support the children, but as his

330
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:45.679
business fortunes declined, so did his involvement. Financial support dwindled,

331
00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:49.840
visits became sporadic. Eventually they stopped altogether.

332
00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:53.519
So much for Henka's declaration after Oscar was born that

333
00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:55.639
he was going to stand by his son for the rest.

334
00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:57.240
Of his life. I know he teared up. I was like,

335
00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:00.960
that's so sweet, and that's exactly how every parent should react. Oh,

336
00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.440
that's too bad. Without Hankah's income, Sheila and the children

337
00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.759
were forced to move into a smaller home in a

338
00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.440
rougher neighborhood. Sheila found work as a secretary. She could

339
00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:14.200
no longer afford private prosthetic care for Oscar, and instead

340
00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.720
relied on the public hospital system to adjust and refit

341
00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:21.759
his artificial legs as he grew the process of getting

342
00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.640
the new prosthetic limbs and children grow so fast it

343
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:29.240
must be overwhelming and always having to adapt and adjust.

344
00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:31.480
Yeah, I can imagine it would be very difficult.

345
00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:35.119
Life in the new neighborhood was harder and scarier. Sheila

346
00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:37.720
lived in constant fear of a break in. If she

347
00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:39.759
heard a noise at night, she would leave from bed

348
00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.599
and call the police. She would wake the children, usher

349
00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:45.720
them into her bedroom, lock the door, and wait. Sheila

350
00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.400
bought a gun and slept with it loaded under her

351
00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.200
pillow every night. Despite the family's financial struggles, they were

352
00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:57.119
helped by Hanka's brother, Arnold Pistorius, a wealthy businessman. Arnold

353
00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:01.119
had taken over the Pistoria's family company, Storius and Company,

354
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.960
founded by Oscar's grandfather in nineteen forty four and the

355
00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:10.119
oldest supplier of agricultural lime in South Africa. Arnold provided

356
00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:13.480
financial support when Sheila needed at most, and when Oscar

357
00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.240
and Carl reached their teens, he paid for them to

358
00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.240
attend Pretoria Boys High School, an elite public boarding school

359
00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:25.000
known for producing high achievers across sports, politics, business, and

360
00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.680
the law. Through it all, Sheila remained Oscar's anchor. She

361
00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:32.079
was his fiercest advocate, instilling in him the belief that

362
00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:35.720
he could do anything, that limitations were challenges meant to

363
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:40.240
be confronted, not avoided. But Sheila was struggling too, as

364
00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:44.559
a secret alcoholic. Carl, the eldest child, knew when Sheila

365
00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:48.119
passed out. He quietly stepped in, covering for her and

366
00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:51.359
taking care of his younger siblings. In November of two

367
00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:55.759
thousand and one, eight years after divorcing Henka, Shila remarried,

368
00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:58.799
this time to an airline pilot, but within a month

369
00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:03.359
of the wedding, all seriously ill and was hospitalized. Doctors

370
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:08.039
discovered severe liver damage but mistakenly diagnosed her with hepatitis.

371
00:19:08.279 --> 00:19:13.240
The medications they prescribed caused a devastating reaction. Sheila's condition

372
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:17.920
rapidly deteriorated. She slipped into a coma and died just

373
00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:23.200
forty four years old. Oscar was fifteen. That's devastating because

374
00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:24.279
he really needed her.

375
00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:27.240
Yeah, it's a really hard time for anyone to lose

376
00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:29.319
their mom, but I think for Oscar especially, it was

377
00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:31.119
definitely hat a major impact.

378
00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:34.079
So by that point he was completely estranged from his father.

379
00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:38.119
Shila was gone, he was in many ways alone. Uncle

380
00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:41.319
Arnold took in Oscar's younger sister and continued paying for

381
00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:45.640
boarding school for Oscar and Carl. Boarding school became Oscar's home.

382
00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:49.920
Holidays and breaks were spent with his uncle. After Sheila's death,

383
00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:52.680
a note was discovered when she had written to Oscar

384
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:54.680
when he was just five months old, meant to be

385
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:57.559
given to him when he became an adult. It read,

386
00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:00.759
the real loser is never the person who crosses the

387
00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.960
finish line last. The real loser is the person who

388
00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.720
sits on the side, the person who does not even

389
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.440
try to compete. Those words would stay with Oscar. They

390
00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:21.759
became his credo. Well be back after a break, I

391
00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.720
think we can all picture Oscar Pistorias in the Olympics

392
00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.000
and what his legs, the blades that he ran un

393
00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:30.119
looked for. Yeah, but I'm wondering at age fifteen what

394
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:31.880
his prosthetics might have looked like.

395
00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.680
Yeah, he would eventually wear the blades only when competing.

396
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:39.160
He would always wear regular prosthetics when he wasn't competing,

397
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.839
and when he was young, they were really.

398
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.799
Basic, like wooden, bulky okay legs.

399
00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.319
Yeah, like very old style because his mom couldn't really

400
00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:50.319
afford really nice ones at that time in their life,

401
00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:55.039
so he had pretty old fashioned prosthetics early on. Oscar's

402
00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.079
determination was evident almost as soon as he arrived at

403
00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:02.119
boarding school. During his first at age fourteen, students were

404
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.319
sent on a three day remote excursion that ended with

405
00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:08.920
a brutal final challenge, a climb up a steep, rocky

406
00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.319
hill rising nearly a mile above sea level. It was

407
00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:15.400
a grueling hike, even for the most physically able boys.

408
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:18.039
As the bulk of the group reached the summit, the

409
00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:21.960
expedition leader climbed into a van to collect the remaining stragglers.

410
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.319
Oscar was among them. He stood in shorts drenched in sweat.

411
00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.359
His legs were badly chafed, bleeding where his prosthetics rubbed

412
00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:33.799
against his stumps. The expedition leader told Oscar to get

413
00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:38.319
into the van, but Oscar refused. The leader insisted again.

414
00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:42.319
Oscar said no, he would finish himself, or not at all.

415
00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.640
Oscar reached the top last, but he reached it. Despite

416
00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:48.960
his efforts to fit in and be treated like any

417
00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.559
other boy, boarding school could be unforgiving. Some of the

418
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.880
other students were openly cruel and at times vicious. One night,

419
00:21:57.119 --> 00:22:00.440
Oscar was jolted awake by shouting. Boys were telling that

420
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.720
there was a fire and that everyone needed to evacuate. Immediately,

421
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.799
disoriented and panicked, Oscar reached instinctively for his prosthetic legs,

422
00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:10.759
which he always kept at the foot of his bed.

423
00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:13.880
They were gone. What he didn't yet know was that

424
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:17.240
several boys had hidden his legs as a prank. They

425
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.680
had sprayed lighter fluid onto stainless steel cabinets in the

426
00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:23.759
dormitory and set them on fire to make the evacuation

427
00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:27.359
seem real. In the chaos, Oscar believed he was about

428
00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:29.880
to be left behind, trapped and helpless.

429
00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:32.799
That's so sad, incredibly cruel.

430
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.000
Boys can be so cruel. Years later.

431
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.799
Years later, he would write about that moment, quote, I

432
00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:41.440
was almost in tears, terrified that I was going to

433
00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.920
be left to die. Oscar played a variety of sports,

434
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:48.319
but by high school rugby had become his passion. It

435
00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.759
was a brutal, physical game, and Oscar insisted on playing

436
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:55.240
it like everyone else. Sometimes that meant being tackled so

437
00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.960
hard his prosthetic legs would go flying. Play would stop

438
00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:02.480
briefly while Oscar picked them up, reattached them, and carried on.

439
00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.119
When Oscar was fourteen, he fell while running and one

440
00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:09.839
of his prosthetic legs snapped. Panicked, he called his grandmother.

441
00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:12.559
This was an emergency. He told her he needed a

442
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:17.000
new set of legs immediately. Oscar's regular prosthetics specialist was

443
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.440
about forty five minutes away, so his grandmother arranged for

444
00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:25.519
him to see someone closer, Francois Vanderwatt. Vanderwatt immediately saw

445
00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.000
that the broken prosthetic was beyond repair, but he also

446
00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:33.920
noticed something else. Oscar was still using old style wooden prosthetics,

447
00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:38.039
the kind commonly prescribed in the nineteen fifties. They were sturdy,

448
00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:41.319
but they weren't designed for speed or for a teenager

449
00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:45.079
determined to compete. Vanderwat wanted to do more than fix

450
00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.279
what was broken. He wanted to give Oscar something better.

451
00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:51.440
Over the next several days, the two met repeatedly to

452
00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.920
experiment with fit and alignment. As Vanderwat got to know Oscar,

453
00:23:56.279 --> 00:24:00.000
he was struck by his intensity, his competitiveness, his refue

454
00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.640
usual to accept limits. At one point, he showed Oscar

455
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.720
a promotional video for the Paralympic Games. Oscar had never

456
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:12.079
heard of them. He was transfixed almost immediately. He decided

457
00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.400
he wanted to run. But competitive sprinting as a double

458
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:20.880
amputee required a very specific kind of prosthetic carbon fiber blades,

459
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.720
often called cheetah blades. They were lightweight, spring loaded, and

460
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:30.799
prohibitively expensive. Unable to afford them, Vanderwat decided to try

461
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:34.720
something unconventional. He contacted a man who worked with carbon

462
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:38.799
fiber in aircraft manufacturing, and together they attempted to build

463
00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:41.960
a pair from scratch. They took the finished blades to

464
00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:45.119
the track and Oscar broke them in about five minutes.

465
00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:50.480
Vanderwat wasn't discouraged. He built another pair, then another, and another,

466
00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:55.000
each time refining the design, learning from the failures. By

467
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:58.200
the sixth iteration, they finally had something that worked, a

468
00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.680
pair of blades that didn't break, fit comfortably and could

469
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:05.279
withstand Oscar's power. It was the beginning of something far

470
00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:07.359
bigger than either of them realized.

471
00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:11.680
That's amazing, Yeah, it really is. So early on, Oscar

472
00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:17.000
had this raw athletic ability, and that's what everyone was

473
00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:18.079
recognizing in him.

474
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:21.480
Well, wasn't just his athletic ability, it was his determination. Yeah,

475
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.640
he was just so determined to be like every other kid,

476
00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:28.480
and you know, very competitive, but also raw athletic ability.

477
00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:33.240
Even after taking up running, Rugby remained Oscar's first love,

478
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.759
but that changed shortly after he turned sixteen. During a match,

479
00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:41.279
Oscar was tackled hard and suffered a serious knee injury.

480
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.599
His doctor prescribed a three month rehabilitation program, one that

481
00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:49.640
relied heavily unsprinting. Once he was ready to rebuild strength

482
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:54.000
and stability. It was during that rehab that something unexpected happened.

483
00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:59.279
Oscar began racing seriously. Before long, he was representing Pretoria

484
00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:02.119
Boys High schoo at track and field meets. At his

485
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:06.440
first competition, boys from rival schools openly mocked him. They

486
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:09.240
assumed he had been chosen out of sympathy, a token

487
00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:13.519
inclusion meant to inspire rather than compete. That assumption didn't

488
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:17.440
last long. Oscar won one hundred meter dash, then he

489
00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:20.319
anchored the four by one hundred relay, leading his school

490
00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:23.240
to victory. His time in the hundred meters that day

491
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:27.079
was eleven point seventy two seconds, nearly half a second

492
00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:33.000
faster than the existing Paralympic record for double amputees. It's crazy,

493
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.839
his first track event in high school and he broke

494
00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:40.200
the Paralympic record. From that moment on the path became clear,

495
00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.960
Oscar gave up rugby and committed himself fully to running.

496
00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:48.079
At seventeen, he competed in the South Africa Disabled Games,

497
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:51.599
where he posted qualifying times good enough to represent South

498
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:55.240
Africa at the two thousand and four Paralympic Games. Just

499
00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:59.039
three months before the Games, Oscar received his first official

500
00:26:59.079 --> 00:27:02.960
pair of Chief brand carbon fiber blades. They took him

501
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:05.799
to another level, and they marked the beginning of his

502
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:10.400
transformation from a gifted teenager with potential into an athlete

503
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.200
the world was about to notice.

504
00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.400
So the para Olympic Games are there age restrictions, like

505
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.200
you have to be eighteen and over or you can

506
00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:18.000
be any age.

507
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.519
I don't believe there are age restrictions now.

508
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:24.200
In two thousand and four, Paralympic Games and Athens marked

509
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:28.599
Oscar's first appearance on a truly global stage. The crowds

510
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:32.119
were enormous, the pressure in tense. He was just seventeen

511
00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:36.319
years old and had been running competitively for barely eight months,

512
00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:41.599
facing seasoned athletes with years, sometimes decades, of experience. To

513
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.400
understand the significance of that moment, it helps to understand

514
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.599
what the Paralympic Games represent. The Paralympics were founded by

515
00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:54.599
Ludwig Gutmann, a German Jewish neurosurgeon who fled to England

516
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:58.440
in nineteen thirty nine to escape Nazi persecution. After World

517
00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:02.680
War Two. Gutmann treated soldiers with spinal cord injuries and

518
00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:06.640
noticed how deeply the isolation and despair affected their recovery.

519
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:10.920
He came to believe that organized sport could restore dignity, purpose,

520
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.640
and morale. In nineteen forty eight, on the very same

521
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.920
day the London Summer Olympics opened, Gudmann launched a small

522
00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:23.279
competition known as the Stoke Mandeville Games twelve years later.

523
00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:27.279
The idea evolved into the first Paralympic Games, held in

524
00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:31.359
Rome in nineteen sixty. Since then, the Paralympics have grown

525
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.680
into one of the world's largest sporting events. The twenty

526
00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:38.319
twenty four Paralympic Games featured more than four thousand, four

527
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:43.000
hundred athletes from one hundred seventy countries competing across five

528
00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:46.880
hundred forty nine metal events. Billions of viewers around the

529
00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:50.799
globe now watched the Games, placing them alongside the Olympics

530
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:56.359
as a major international spectacle. Because Paralympic athletes have a

531
00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:01.000
wide range of disabilities, competition is carefully class There are

532
00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:06.880
ten eligible impairment types, including impaired muscle power, limb efficiency,

533
00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:11.400
and leg length difference. These are further subdivided to create

534
00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:15.559
as level a playing field as possible. Oscar was classified

535
00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:19.480
as T forty three, a double below knee amputee, but

536
00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:23.720
he competed in T forty four events, which were technically

537
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:27.759
reserved for single below knee amputees. When the Games began

538
00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:31.359
in Athens, Oscar was visibly nervous as he stepped onto

539
00:29:31.400 --> 00:29:34.359
the track for the first race. The two hundred meter

540
00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:38.640
qualifying heat. When the starting gun fired, he hesitated for

541
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:41.519
a split second. All the other runners exploded out of

542
00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:45.319
the blocks, while Oscar seemed frozen, only realizing a moment

543
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:48.319
too late that the race had begun. But it didn't matter.

544
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:52.359
He surged forward, caught the field, finished first, and broke

545
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.359
the world record.

546
00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:55.519
I've seen the video of this race, and it's really

547
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:59.119
interesting that at the start, he honestly just it was

548
00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:02.319
like he didn't hear the gun, like he was so nervous.

549
00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:04.640
He was just in in his own head, and all

550
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:05.920
of a sudden he looks up and it's like, oh,

551
00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:07.359
everyone's gone already.

552
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:08.119
Yeah, but the.

553
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.400
Velocity with which he came back was just amazing.

554
00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:15.839
That's amazing. Oscar advanced to the final, where he did

555
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:19.160
it again, another world record and a gold medal. He

556
00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:21.799
also won bronze and the one hundred meters, an event

557
00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:25.680
that never quite suited him due to his notoriously slow starts.

558
00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:29.359
When he returned home to South Africa, Oscar was suddenly

559
00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:35.640
everywhere media appearances, television commercials, sponsorship deals, even a car.

560
00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:39.720
So he's only seventeen and he has this fame and yeah, yeah,

561
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:42.720
that's not going to go well. Oscar's sudden fame created

562
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.680
tension at school. While the headmaster at Pretoria Boys' High

563
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:49.720
School was proud of Oscar's achievements, he was firm in

564
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:53.799
his belief that no students should receive special treatment. Oscar

565
00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:57.880
was not allowed to keep the sponsored car. Oscar was furious,

566
00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:00.759
but he complied it was an early lesson and how

567
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:04.839
quickly admiration can collide with authority, and how success would

568
00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:08.960
often come with rules. Oscar didn't want to follow a sir.

569
00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:12.680
The company that manufactures the carbon fiber Cheetah blades used

570
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:16.920
by most elite Paralympic runners is based in Iceland. After

571
00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:21.119
Oscar's breakout performance at the two thousand and four Paralympic Games,

572
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:24.880
Ohser signed him as a sponsored athlete. I have a

573
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:28.279
question for you. How expensive are these Cheetah blades.

574
00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:32.880
They are quite expensive today. They're fifteen to twenty thousand

575
00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:36.880
dollars for like a good, high end performing model. I'm

576
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:39.079
sure they have cheaper versions as well, but if you're

577
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:41.799
an elite athlete using these, you're going to spend a

578
00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:42.440
lot of money.

579
00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:45.559
In earlier you said that those blades are only used

580
00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:49.200
for racing. You would need a different prosthetic for everyday life.

581
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:49.640
Yeah.

582
00:31:50.039 --> 00:31:54.160
Oscar soon began traveling regularly to Iceland, immersing himself in

583
00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:58.240
every technical detail of the blades built specifically for him.

584
00:31:58.519 --> 00:32:01.880
One oh Sir engineer who worked closely with Oscar leaders,

585
00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:04.759
said he had a huge hunger, more than any other

586
00:32:04.839 --> 00:32:08.440
athlete we've ever worked with. He was so focused absolute

587
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:12.000
tunnel vision. You could see this was just everything to him.

588
00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:16.480
Over time, Oscar's body presented a growing challenge. The heel

589
00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:20.680
pad on his left stump had gradually migrated upward, eventually

590
00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:24.359
sitting almost vertically. It no longer protected the bone at

591
00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.880
the end of the stump, leaving it exposed to repeated impact.

592
00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:31.359
Solving that problem, finding a way to absorb force while

593
00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:37.279
minimizing pressure became the ocer's team's greatest technical hurdle. Oscar

594
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.400
ran relentlessly. By the end of long training days, his

595
00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:44.359
stumps were often swollen, raw and bleeding, and yet the

596
00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:46.640
next morning he would return to the track with the

597
00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:51.039
same intensity, pushing just as hard. Oscar often repeated a

598
00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:54.519
favorite line, you are not disabled by the disabilities you have.

599
00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:58.400
You are able by the abilities you have. He rejected

600
00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:03.079
the term disabled preferring differently abled. After Athens, he quickly

601
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.079
became well known within the para athlete community, especially among

602
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:10.799
younger athletes just beginning their journeys. He went out of

603
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:15.480
his way to offer encouragement, advice, and reassurance. One family

604
00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.519
in Iceland in particular, became especially close to him. While

605
00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.440
looking ahead in the paragraph I'm about to read, you

606
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:25.519
as usual have left me with some really.

607
00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:28.799
So it was not intentional, I promise, Oh.

608
00:33:28.839 --> 00:33:33.200
It always isn't. In two thousand and five, Eva good

609
00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:37.759
Munn's daughter and her husband half their Halfland Jason, were

610
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.960
expecting a baby boy that was perfect.

611
00:33:41.079 --> 00:33:42.880
He nailed it and I'm.

612
00:33:42.759 --> 00:33:45.000
So sorry to these lovely these people I'm sure are

613
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:48.960
lovely And a twenty week scan, doctors discovered a severe abnormality.

614
00:33:49.160 --> 00:33:51.960
Parts of the baby's leg appeared to be missing. The

615
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.880
diagnosis was fibular homomilia, the same rare condition Oscar had

616
00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:59.279
been born with. It had never before been seen in Iceland.

617
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:04.200
For for information, half Thor searched online. The first image that

618
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:09.000
appeared was Oscar Pistorius. Seeing that image changed everything for

619
00:34:09.079 --> 00:34:12.239
the first time. The couple felt hope. Eba and half

620
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:16.280
Thor ultimately chose the same path that Sheila Pistorius had

621
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:20.559
years earlier, amputating both their son's legs At eleven months old.

622
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.039
Weeks before the surgery, Eba learned that Oscar would be

623
00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:27.400
visiting Iceland. She sent him an email and he replied.

624
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:31.519
She invited him to dinner, and Oscar came. Only nineteen

625
00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:34.159
at the time. He immediately bonded with a couple and

626
00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:38.559
their young son. As Oscar spoke about his mother, Sheila Pistorius,

627
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.679
whom he described as his guiding light, Ebba found her

628
00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:45.199
own model from motherhood. She resolved to raise her son

629
00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:49.440
the same way, never with pity, never with lowered expectations,

630
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:52.639
and never with the belief that he was incapable of anything.

631
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:56.239
Oscar and the family remained close for the next eight years.

632
00:34:56.719 --> 00:34:59.519
At one point, Ebba and half thor even moved their

633
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:03.880
family to South Africa for six months, immersing themselves fully

634
00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:08.199
in Oscar's world. For them and for many others, Oscar

635
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:10.880
was more than an athlete. He was proof of what

636
00:35:11.079 --> 00:35:11.800
was possible.

637
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:14.119
I included that story there because I think it just

638
00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:16.840
shows that at this time in his life Oscar was

639
00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:20.840
really was really nice to people, like people, especially other

640
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:25.280
Paralympic athletes or other people with similar type of disabilities.

641
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:27.920
He just really cared and he did every He went

642
00:35:27.960 --> 00:35:30.480
out of his way to be kind to people and

643
00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:32.719
to really help them on their own journey.

644
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:35.280
That's a lot of pressure to put on a nineteen

645
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:38.599
year old boy, though it is. Over the next several years,

646
00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:42.039
as Oscar continued to race and shatter records, his public

647
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:46.320
image solidified. He was widely seen as the Golden Boy, polite,

648
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:50.400
gracious with his time, and careful in his words in interviews.

649
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:54.320
He was respectful and composed. On the track, he was dominant.

650
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:58.079
Barely three years into his running career, Oscar Pistorius had

651
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:01.360
already broken the world records for double amputees in the

652
00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:05.280
one hundred, two hundred and four hundred meters. But behind

653
00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:08.639
the scenes, there were early signs that something darker existed

654
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:12.519
beneath the carefully managed image. In two thousand and nine,

655
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:16.960
a woman named Cassidy Taylor Memory accused Pistorius of assault.

656
00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:21.519
The incident followed a party at Oscar's home. Taylor Memory

657
00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:25.239
alleged that during an argument, Oscar punched a door, which

658
00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:28.760
slammed into her leg and injured it. Oscar was arrested

659
00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:32.760
and held overnight on an assault charge. He denied intentionally

660
00:36:32.880 --> 00:36:36.480
hurting her, claiming the injury was accidental and that Taylor

661
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:40.039
Memory had been drunk and aggressive at the party. After

662
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:45.199
an investigation, prosecutors declined to pursue charges. Oscar's legal team

663
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.280
succeeded in keeping the incident largely out of the media.

664
00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:52.559
Taylor Memory later filed a civil suit, which was eventually

665
00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:56.400
settled out of court. Oscar agreed to pay her legal costs,

666
00:36:56.519 --> 00:37:00.760
but issued no apology. When the settlement became public, Tailor

667
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:03.719
Memory spoke about the toll the ordeal had taken on her.

668
00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:06.679
I agreed to it because I was so tired about

669
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:10.400
weighing me down. I received hate mail on a daily basis.

670
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:13.360
It became so difficult at one stage that I needed

671
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:15.880
a bodyguard when I went out in public due to

672
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:19.559
all the hate rants. To most of the world, Oscar

673
00:37:19.599 --> 00:37:23.280
Pastorius remained a hero, but for those who looked closely,

674
00:37:23.880 --> 00:37:28.119
cracks were beginning to show. We'll be back after a break.

675
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:38.519
Around the same time as this alleged assault incident, Oscar

676
00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:41.400
was piloting a speedboat on the Vaal River when he

677
00:37:41.480 --> 00:37:44.880
slammed into a pier. The impact was sudden and violent.

678
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:47.960
His face smashed into the steering wheel of the boat.

679
00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:51.440
The friend, who had been riding with him was somehow unhurt.

680
00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:52.440
He turned to.

681
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.599
Look at Oscar and was horrified. Blood was pouring from

682
00:37:55.639 --> 00:37:58.119
one of Oscar's eyes and a flap of skin had

683
00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:01.719
peeled away across his nose. As the boat began to sink,

684
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:04.719
Oscar somehow managed to make it to shore. He was

685
00:38:04.760 --> 00:38:09.679
airlifted to a hospital in Johannesburg barely conscious. Doctors discovered

686
00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:13.440
he had several broken ribs, lost nearly three liters of blood,

687
00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:16.960
and shattered the bones around one eye socket. That sounds

688
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:20.679
rough does to stabilize him, they sedated Oscar into a

689
00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:24.119
coma and performed reconstructive surgery on his face.

690
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:26.400
Three days later, he woke up.

691
00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:29.840
With one hundred and eighty stitches and his jaw wired shut.

692
00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:33.480
It was a minor miracle that he survived, especially without

693
00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:38.320
any permanent brain damage or lasting neurological injury. After two

694
00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:42.440
months of intensive physical therapy, Oscar slowly returned to training,

695
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:46.199
but the accident marked a turning point. Before the crash,

696
00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:50.920
his diet and lifestyle had been relatively unremarkable. Afterward, his

697
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:54.880
discipline intensified. He cut out milk and red meat. His

698
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.679
meals became tightly controlled, mostly fish, chicken, and vegetables. His

699
00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:04.519
body he grew leaner, more sculpted. Everything about his approach sharpened,

700
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:06.480
and his ambition.

701
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:08.639
Grew with it. Oscar still loved.

702
00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:11.440
The Paralympic Games, but now he set his sights on

703
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:16.519
something unprecedented, qualifying for the Olympic Games, the ultimate stage,

704
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:20.280
the one that no amputee had ever reached. If he

705
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:22.519
could make it there, he wouldn't just be the best

706
00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:26.000
in his category, he would change the category itself.

707
00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:29.599
I was curious about that. How his times compared to

708
00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:32.480
the top times of Olympic athletes.

709
00:39:32.760 --> 00:39:34.800
Well, we're going to talk about that, but they weren't.

710
00:39:34.840 --> 00:39:37.559
His times were pretty good, I mean, not at the

711
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:41.639
top level of those Olympic athletes, but good enough to qualify.

712
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.880
In fact, Oscar had already tried once before to qualify

713
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:49.320
for the Olympic Games. That earlier attempt, aimed at the

714
00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:52.400
two thousand and eight Games in Beijing, ignited a bitter

715
00:39:52.480 --> 00:39:56.360
and highly public feud between the Paralympic community and the

716
00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:01.079
sport's global governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federation,

717
00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:05.639
better known as the IAAF. In August two thousand seven,

718
00:40:05.760 --> 00:40:09.360
Oscar lined up for a four hundred meter IAAF sanctioned

719
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:12.840
race at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, competing for the

720
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:16.719
first time against elite able bodied athletes. Going into the

721
00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:19.159
first seventy meters, he was in last place.

722
00:40:19.719 --> 00:40:20.880
Then he surged.

723
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:24.840
Oscar powered pass runner after runner and crossed the line

724
00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:28.840
in second place. It was a remarkable performance, but instead

725
00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:32.840
of celebration, it set off alarm bells inside the IAAF.

726
00:40:33.440 --> 00:40:37.800
Officials began to question whether Oscar's carbon fiber prosthetics gave

727
00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:42.239
him an unfair mechanical advantage. In November two thousand seven,

728
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:47.119
the IAAF requested that Oscar undergo scientific testing at the

729
00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:49.480
German Sport University in Cologne.

730
00:40:49.800 --> 00:40:50.760
Oscar agreed.

731
00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:55.119
The testing involved sophisticated equipment designed to measure everything from

732
00:40:55.199 --> 00:40:59.400
oxygen consumption and energy efficiency to the mechanical behavior of

733
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:03.719
his blaze compared to biological legs. When the results came back,

734
00:41:03.800 --> 00:41:08.719
the IAAF's scientific advisors concluded that Oscar used roughly twenty

735
00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:12.400
five percent less energy and burned fewer calories than able

736
00:41:12.440 --> 00:41:16.119
bodied runners. Moving at the same speed over the same distance.

737
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:20.119
Their conclusion was blunt. The Cheetah blades gave Oscar an

738
00:41:20.199 --> 00:41:23.840
unfair advantage under the rules that meant he was banned

739
00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:27.559
from competing in able bodied events. Oscar and his team

740
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:31.559
strongly disputed the findings. They argued that the conclusions were

741
00:41:31.599 --> 00:41:36.840
fundamentally flawed. Sprinting success, they said, was about force and acceleration,

742
00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:41.320
not just energy efficiency. Oscar actually struck the ground with

743
00:41:41.480 --> 00:41:45.840
less force than runners with biological legs. His speed, they argued,

744
00:41:46.119 --> 00:41:49.280
came from the same source as any elite sprinters, an

745
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:54.920
extraordinary stride frequency and relentless training. Oscar refused to back down.

746
00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:58.000
He assembled a legal team from the United States and

747
00:41:58.039 --> 00:42:03.719
appealed the decision, commissioning independent experts to challenge the IAAF's science.

748
00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:06.360
The case was heard in May two thousand and eight

749
00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:09.840
at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After two days

750
00:42:09.840 --> 00:42:14.239
of testimony, the court ruled unanimously in Oscar's favor. The

751
00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:18.679
judges concluded that the IAAF's testing had been incomplete. It

752
00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.800
examined Oscar only while he was running at top speed

753
00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:24.599
in a straight line, and failed to account for his

754
00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:29.239
clear disadvantages. At the start and acceleration phases of a race.

755
00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:32.400
Taken as a whole, the court found no evidence that

756
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:36.800
Oscar had any net competitive advantage over non disabled athletes.

757
00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:40.639
With that barrier removed, Oscar made a last minute push

758
00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:43.400
to qualify for the two thousand and eight Beijing Games.

759
00:42:43.960 --> 00:42:47.400
South African selectors delayed naming the Olympic team to give

760
00:42:47.480 --> 00:42:53.000
him a chance. Then the IAAF intervened again. Despite losing

761
00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:57.119
the case, the IAAF's general secretary publicly stated that the

762
00:42:57.239 --> 00:43:01.159
organization would prefer that the South African Olympic Committee not

763
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:05.239
select Pistorius for the four by four hundred relay team,

764
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:09.199
citing reasons of safety. He warned that Oscar could cause

765
00:43:09.239 --> 00:43:13.159
serious damage and potentially endanger himself and other athletes if

766
00:43:13.199 --> 00:43:16.719
he ran in the main pack. Oscar fired back, calling

767
00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:19.400
the statement a last ditch attempt to keep him out

768
00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:23.320
of the Olympics. He threatened legal action unless the IAAF

769
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:26.920
formally acknowledged that it had no objections to his participation.

770
00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:31.519
Under pressure, the IAAF clarified its position, stating that it

771
00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:34.920
fully respected the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling and

772
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.199
had no intention of influencing team selection. In the end,

773
00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:42.480
none of it mattered. Oscar narrowly failed to qualify for

774
00:43:42.519 --> 00:43:45.800
the two thousand and eight Olympic team. After recovering from

775
00:43:45.800 --> 00:43:49.360
his voting accident, the following year, he became even more determined,

776
00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:53.119
though with Beijing behind him, Oscar turned his full attention

777
00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:57.239
to one goal the twenty twelve Summer Olympics in London,

778
00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:00.559
and this time he intended to make it Impopps to

779
00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:04.639
ignore him. I think this topic of whether these artificial legs,

780
00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.960
these blades give someone an unfair advantage is a really

781
00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:09.280
interesting one because.

782
00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:10.679
I have always wondered this myself.

783
00:44:10.880 --> 00:44:12.800
Yeah, I mean, it does make you wonder. But at

784
00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:16.760
the same time, these athletes who are double amputees, you

785
00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:20.440
have to believe that they're at a severe disadvantage against

786
00:44:20.519 --> 00:44:23.480
most people. But there are certain things like the springiness

787
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:26.280
of the legs that are probably a little better than

788
00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:28.039
a human leg in some respects.

789
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:32.039
So the other Paralympic athletes did they use these same

790
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:32.800
cheetah blades.

791
00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:36.360
Almost every Paralympic athlete that was a runner or sprinter

792
00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:37.599
would use those same blades.

793
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:40.719
Yeah, but Oscar always won his races at a pretty

794
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:43.440
big margin to his next competitor.

795
00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:43.800
Not always.

796
00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:47.880
He was definitely the dominant competitor in the events that

797
00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:51.239
he ran in, but it wasn't like he was miles

798
00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:52.880
in front or way in front.

799
00:44:52.599 --> 00:44:53.960
Of the other athletes.

800
00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:58.079
While Oscar Pistorius was celebrated by many as a superhero

801
00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:01.039
for what he accomplished on the track, his personal life,

802
00:45:01.239 --> 00:45:05.760
particularly his relationships with women, was marked by deep insecurity.

803
00:45:06.280 --> 00:45:10.079
Despite being named one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive,

804
00:45:10.440 --> 00:45:13.440
Oscar was plagued by anxiety when it came to romance.

805
00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:17.639
The fear of rejection, of being hurt, ridiculed, or abandoned

806
00:45:17.880 --> 00:45:21.679
loomed over him. Dating was never casual for Oscar, It

807
00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:25.920
was fraught. A pattern emerged. He would begin relationships with

808
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:30.400
beautiful women almost exclusively so and early on his anxiety

809
00:45:30.400 --> 00:45:34.519
would spike around the moment of physical intimacy. Revealing his

810
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:37.920
stumps for the first time filled him with dread. Once

811
00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:41.119
he moved past that barrier, he tended to fall hard

812
00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:46.440
and fast. Love quickly became dependency. Oscar would grow intensely

813
00:45:46.480 --> 00:45:50.480
attached to his partner, then increasingly fearful of losing her.

814
00:45:51.000 --> 00:45:55.639
That fear often turned into possessiveness. He saw rivals everywhere,

815
00:45:56.119 --> 00:46:00.480
Jealousy consumed him, doubts crept in constantly, leus she with

816
00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:03.119
him because of who he was, or because of his fame,

817
00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:07.639
his money, his status. From the outside, some might speculate

818
00:46:07.679 --> 00:46:10.639
that Oscar was searching for a substitute for the one

819
00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:13.840
woman he had lost too early, his mother, But no

820
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:16.840
partner could ever live up to that ideal, and as

821
00:46:16.840 --> 00:46:20.760
soon as he sensed distance or independence, panic would set in,

822
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:27.000
the familiar terror of abandonment resurfacing. Eventually the relationships would collapse.

823
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:31.039
Each breakup forced Oscar to relive the original grief he

824
00:46:31.079 --> 00:46:35.119
had never fully processed losing his mother at fifteen, and

825
00:46:35.320 --> 00:46:38.199
rather than sit with that pain, he moved on quickly.

826
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:42.480
Soon after one relationship ended, another would begin. It was

827
00:46:42.480 --> 00:46:46.400
a cycle, one that repeated again and again throughout his twenties.

828
00:46:46.880 --> 00:46:48.280
I am by no means.

829
00:46:48.039 --> 00:46:51.079
A psychiatrist or a psychologist, so I apologize for my

830
00:46:51.960 --> 00:46:54.920
amateur analysis there, But I do think there is something

831
00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:57.440
there with losing his mom at that early age, that

832
00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:00.679
he just had this fear of abandonment, and whenever he

833
00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:04.320
was with a woman, it probably would cause him a

834
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:05.719
lot of anxiety.

835
00:47:05.880 --> 00:47:10.000
That coupled with his physical deformity probably made it very

836
00:47:10.039 --> 00:47:12.519
difficult for him to sustain a relationship.

837
00:47:12.599 --> 00:47:14.760
I think it was definitely a combination of those things.

838
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:19.800
Oscar's last serious relationship before meeting Reva Steinecamp was with

839
00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:23.639
a young woman named Samantha Taylor. They met through Facebook

840
00:47:23.679 --> 00:47:26.840
when Oscar was twenty five and Samantha was just seventeen.

841
00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:28.519
The relationship was.

842
00:47:28.519 --> 00:47:31.719
Volatile and on again, off again, but in total it

843
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:36.119
lasted about eighteen months. Years later, Samantha would describe Oscar

844
00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:39.960
in starkly contrasting terms. When he was good, she said,

845
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:43.880
he was very good, kind, gentle, and courteous. But when

846
00:47:43.920 --> 00:47:47.519
he was bad, he was absolutely horrid. She said his

847
00:47:47.639 --> 00:47:51.320
moods could shift without warning. One moment, he would be affectionate,

848
00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:54.760
the next enraged at her or at the people around her.

849
00:47:55.239 --> 00:47:58.000
Minor things could set him off, forgetting to make him

850
00:47:58.039 --> 00:48:00.800
a cup of coffee, wearing clothes that he felt were

851
00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:05.400
too revealing. When they were apart, Oscar demanded constant updates.

852
00:48:05.719 --> 00:48:08.159
He wanted to know where she was, who she was with,

853
00:48:08.440 --> 00:48:11.320
and what she was doing. He often asked for proof,

854
00:48:11.679 --> 00:48:14.760
requesting photos to confirm that she was telling the truth.

855
00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:19.039
Samantha also said that when Oscar wasn't training, he drank heavily.

856
00:48:19.559 --> 00:48:22.960
At times, she claimed he would handle his firearms carelessly,

857
00:48:23.280 --> 00:48:27.079
waving a gun round without regard for safety. Looking back,

858
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:30.039
Samantha says she came to see the relationship for what

859
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:34.440
it was. She felt emotionally abused. This was the final

860
00:48:34.519 --> 00:48:38.679
relationship that Oscar Pastorius would have before meeting Reva Steinecamp,

861
00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:41.679
and it offered one of the clearest windows into the

862
00:48:41.679 --> 00:48:44.880
patterns that followed him into his next relationship.

863
00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:47.840
So it sounds like Oscar dated a lot of women.

864
00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:51.519
Do you know what his longest relationship was. Was it

865
00:48:51.559 --> 00:48:53.599
with any of these women for more than a year.

866
00:48:54.119 --> 00:48:57.079
He was with Samantha for eighteen months, so a year

867
00:48:57.119 --> 00:48:58.639
and a half, But it was kind of an on again,

868
00:48:58.719 --> 00:49:01.079
off again thing. I think he may have been with

869
00:49:01.679 --> 00:49:05.039
another woman or two for like a year to two

870
00:49:05.119 --> 00:49:07.639
year time period. It seems like that was sort of

871
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:08.079
the max.

872
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:12.159
As the twenty twelve Summer Olympics approached, Oscar was still

873
00:49:12.199 --> 00:49:15.440
in an on again, off again relationship with Samantha Taylor

874
00:49:15.800 --> 00:49:19.559
on the track, though everything finally came together this time

875
00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:25.000
Oscar qualified. Oscar Pistorius made history as the first amputee

876
00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:28.760
runner ever to compete in the Olympic Games. When he

877
00:49:28.880 --> 00:49:31.559
arrived in London, the scale of it was all overwhelming.

878
00:49:31.920 --> 00:49:34.960
Everywhere he went he saw his own face staring back

879
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.079
at him from posters and billboards. He wasn't just a competitor,

880
00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:42.280
he was one of the faces of the Games. But

881
00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:46.960
beneath the celebration, Oscar was unraveling. As his first Olympic

882
00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:52.039
debut drew closer, anxiety consumed him. What if he embarrassed himself.

883
00:49:52.400 --> 00:49:55.079
What if he finished dead last? What if he was

884
00:49:55.079 --> 00:49:59.719
disqualified for stepping out of his lane. The pressure felt unbearable.

885
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:03.920
Oscar knew the reality winning a medal was almost certainly

886
00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:07.400
out of reach. His goal was modest, at least on paper.

887
00:50:07.880 --> 00:50:11.039
Run well in the preliminary heats of the four hundred meters.

888
00:50:11.440 --> 00:50:15.800
If everything went perfectly, maybe, just maybe, he could make

889
00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:18.840
the semi finals. On the day of the heats, the

890
00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:23.320
stadium was firmly behind him. When Oscar was introduced, the

891
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:27.079
crowd erupted. The moment carried all the weight of history.

892
00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:30.480
When the gun fired, Oscar did what he did so often.

893
00:50:30.679 --> 00:50:33.880
He started slowly. Over the first one hundred meters. He

894
00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:36.960
fell behind losing ground to the field, but then he

895
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:39.840
settled into his rhythm. By the halfway mark, he began

896
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:43.280
passing runners one by one, surging down the track. He

897
00:50:43.360 --> 00:50:46.880
didn't win the race, but he finished second. It was enough.

898
00:50:47.239 --> 00:50:51.880
Oscar Pastorius had qualified for the Olympic semi finals. He

899
00:50:51.960 --> 00:50:54.920
didn't advance to the finals, though, but it didn't matter.

900
00:50:55.159 --> 00:50:59.039
He was ecstatic. He had done exactly what he came

901
00:50:59.079 --> 00:51:02.199
to do. He proven to himself and of the world

902
00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:07.159
that he belonged on the biggest stage in sport. Once again,

903
00:51:07.320 --> 00:51:10.639
Oscar showed that in his mind the words I can't

904
00:51:11.039 --> 00:51:14.840
simply did not exist, and for a brief moment, standing

905
00:51:14.840 --> 00:51:17.639
there in London, but felt like the story had reached

906
00:51:17.679 --> 00:51:22.320
its perfect ending. But it hadn't. In September twenty twelve,

907
00:51:22.559 --> 00:51:25.320
just a couple of months after the Olympic Games, Oscar

908
00:51:25.400 --> 00:51:28.760
returned to the track for the twenty twelve Paralympic Games,

909
00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:33.039
his third appearance at the Paralympics. Publicly, he was still

910
00:51:33.079 --> 00:51:36.000
seen as the Golden Boy, but those closest to him

911
00:51:36.239 --> 00:51:41.039
noticed a change. Oscar seemed withdrawn heavier somehow, as if

912
00:51:41.079 --> 00:51:44.079
a shadow had settled over his life. Part of that

913
00:51:44.199 --> 00:51:48.559
weight came from his relationship with Samantha Taylor, which was unraveling.

914
00:51:49.199 --> 00:51:51.559
She chose not to travel to London to be with

915
00:51:51.679 --> 00:51:55.679
him during the Paralympic Games. Exhausted by the volatility of

916
00:51:55.719 --> 00:52:00.320
the relationship, she needed distance. Oscar took it hard on

917
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.280
the track, cracks began to show as well. In the

918
00:52:03.280 --> 00:52:07.320
two hundred meter final, Oscar finished second behind Alan Olivera,

919
00:52:07.599 --> 00:52:11.480
a double amputee sprinter from Brazil. It was a stunning upset,

920
00:52:11.760 --> 00:52:14.559
and in the moments that followed the public saw side

921
00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:18.159
of Oscar Pistorius they weren't used to seeing. During his

922
00:52:18.280 --> 00:52:22.719
post race interview, Oscar didn't sound gracious. He sounded angry.

923
00:52:23.159 --> 00:52:27.559
He complained that Olivera's carbon blades were too long, suggesting

924
00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:30.679
that gave him an unfair advantage. We're not running a

925
00:52:30.719 --> 00:52:35.239
fair race here, Oscar said. The guy's legs are unbelievably long,

926
00:52:35.519 --> 00:52:40.039
absolutely ridiculous. Then he stormed off, leaving the television panels

927
00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:43.559
stunned and unsure how to respond. The next day, a

928
00:52:43.639 --> 00:52:48.480
newspaper headline captured the shift in perception. Oscar is not

929
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:53.440
such a saint. In reality. Olavera's blades were along, but

930
00:52:53.519 --> 00:52:58.119
they were within regulation. The International Paralympic Committee confirmed that

931
00:52:58.199 --> 00:53:02.440
the length was proportional to Oliver's body and fully compliant

932
00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:06.519
with Paralympic rules. Oscar issued an apology the next day,

933
00:53:06.639 --> 00:53:09.559
but he did not withdraw his complaint. For the first

934
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:13.000
time on a global stage, the image of Oscar Pistorius,

935
00:53:13.239 --> 00:53:17.000
the humble, gracious hero, had visibly fractured, and it left

936
00:53:17.039 --> 00:53:20.320
many wondering whether the pressure that drove him to greatness

937
00:53:20.639 --> 00:53:22.119
was beginning to turn inward.

938
00:53:22.360 --> 00:53:24.760
It was kind of ironic, after all his battles with

939
00:53:24.880 --> 00:53:28.719
the Olympic Committee, with the IAAF where they said his

940
00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:33.039
prosthetics weren't fair, that he was now accusing another player

941
00:53:33.079 --> 00:53:36.480
who was perfectly within the rules because the blades they

942
00:53:36.519 --> 00:53:38.559
have to be proportional to your body, and this guy

943
00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:41.320
was just a taller guy, so his blades were longer.

944
00:53:41.519 --> 00:53:43.519
But it really was not a good look for Oscar.

945
00:53:44.159 --> 00:53:47.519
After the Paralympic Games ended, Oscar returned to South Africa

946
00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:51.719
and reconnected with Samantha Taylor. They'd decided to try once

947
00:53:51.760 --> 00:53:54.880
again to make their relationship work, but the reunion was

948
00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:58.400
rocky from the start. Oscar soon learned that while he

949
00:53:58.440 --> 00:54:01.239
had been in London for the games, Samantha had traveled

950
00:54:01.239 --> 00:54:05.599
to Dubai with another man. His name was Quentin Vanderbergh,

951
00:54:05.880 --> 00:54:10.960
a wealthy South African entrepreneur. Samantha knew Vanderberg socially and

952
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:13.440
had leaned on him during what she described as a

953
00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:17.199
dark and confusing period. In her mind, the relationship with

954
00:54:17.239 --> 00:54:20.800
Oscar had effectively ended when she told him that she

955
00:54:20.840 --> 00:54:23.960
would not be traveling to London for the Paralympics. To her,

956
00:54:24.039 --> 00:54:27.719
the break was real. Oscar saw it differently. In his mind,

957
00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:31.880
Samantha had cheated on him. That difference in perception proved

958
00:54:31.920 --> 00:54:36.079
impossible to bridge. Their relationship finally collapsed for good on

959
00:54:36.159 --> 00:54:40.039
November fourth, twenty twelve. Samantha had been expected to attend

960
00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:43.719
the South African Sports Awards with Oscar walking the red

961
00:54:43.719 --> 00:54:46.239
carpet as his date, but at the last minute she

962
00:54:46.320 --> 00:54:51.000
decided she couldn't do it. Something fundamentally had changed. Oscar's

963
00:54:51.039 --> 00:54:55.039
success and global fame had transformed his priorities. He was

964
00:54:55.119 --> 00:55:00.679
increasingly drawn to material things, vast cars, luxury, travels, status,

965
00:55:01.000 --> 00:55:04.880
his social circles shifted to Samantha felt that he now

966
00:55:04.920 --> 00:55:08.079
evaluated people based on what they could offer him or

967
00:55:08.119 --> 00:55:11.159
how they could help elevate his life. She told him

968
00:55:11.199 --> 00:55:14.519
she couldn't do it anymore, but Oscar wouldn't be single

969
00:55:14.559 --> 00:55:15.039
for long.

970
00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:17.719
Fact, as we will pick up at the beginning of

971
00:55:17.760 --> 00:55:20.679
part two, he met Reeve a scene camp that exact

972
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:26.519
same day. We talked already a little bit about Oscar's psychology.

973
00:55:27.119 --> 00:55:28.800
How do you think his You know, he had this

974
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:30.880
lifelong effort where he didn't want to be seen as

975
00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:33.440
different from other people, right, and his mom instilled that

976
00:55:33.519 --> 00:55:35.800
in him, like you're no different than any other boy.

977
00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:39.800
But now he wants to be seen as different. Yeah right, Yeah,

978
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:43.760
because he sees himself as, you know, someone who has status, right,

979
00:55:43.880 --> 00:55:46.840
a celebrity and a world class athlete. Yeah.

980
00:55:47.079 --> 00:55:49.639
Just wondering like how that pressure to be like a

981
00:55:49.679 --> 00:55:53.800
normal boy must have affected him in his life.

982
00:55:54.079 --> 00:55:56.840
You make me feel like I'm being quizzed all the time,

983
00:55:56.960 --> 00:55:59.639
like there's a right answer and I need to get it.

984
00:56:00.039 --> 00:56:03.159
You're the psychiatry major here in our relationships.

985
00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:05.559
So I feel psychology psychology major, I get them mixed up.

986
00:56:05.639 --> 00:56:09.480
Still that I don't think that undergrad psychology degree.

987
00:56:09.199 --> 00:56:12.960
Does qualify you to psychoanalyze prospect historians.

988
00:56:13.280 --> 00:56:15.760
But being married to you for a long time and

989
00:56:15.800 --> 00:56:18.679
being the mother of two people. I think that gives

990
00:56:18.760 --> 00:56:20.119
me a little.

991
00:56:19.800 --> 00:56:21.559
Bit that's good life experience.

992
00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:24.519
I would say, I think his talent affected him more

993
00:56:24.679 --> 00:56:26.960
and made him a little more ecocentric.

994
00:56:27.079 --> 00:56:29.119
Yeah, so that started to make him believe he was

995
00:56:29.639 --> 00:56:31.440
like better than other people in some ways.

996
00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:36.039
Maybe he did overcome some pretty hard things, right, absolutely,

997
00:56:36.079 --> 00:56:38.039
and he worked super hard that you can't take that

998
00:56:38.079 --> 00:56:38.679
away from him.

999
00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:40.960
No, he definitely can't. But he also kind of had

1000
00:56:40.960 --> 00:56:44.559
this deep seated fear of being pitied or made fun of,

1001
00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:47.639
which is totally understandable for someone in that position. But again,

1002
00:56:47.639 --> 00:56:50.000
I think he just had all these you know, different

1003
00:56:50.039 --> 00:56:53.599
aspects of his personality right where he was very driven.

1004
00:56:53.719 --> 00:56:55.920
He overcame a lot of things, but at the same time,

1005
00:56:56.000 --> 00:57:00.000
he had really deep insecurities. Then he became wildly successful,

1006
00:57:00.199 --> 00:57:01.800
so that may have changed him. So I just think

1007
00:57:01.800 --> 00:57:06.719
he had a very complex set of circumstances that shaped him.

1008
00:57:07.280 --> 00:57:11.079
Success can be very confusing because you're it doesn't take

1009
00:57:11.079 --> 00:57:15.079
away your insecurities, and I think that's that's what happens

1010
00:57:15.199 --> 00:57:20.000
is If anything, I think the success enhances your insecurity. Well,

1011
00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:23.559
like imposter syndrome. I feel like I have a horrible

1012
00:57:23.599 --> 00:57:26.559
case of imposter syndrome because we've had a nice amount

1013
00:57:26.599 --> 00:57:29.079
of success from our podcast. We're still a small podcast,

1014
00:57:29.079 --> 00:57:31.159
but we're doing really well, and a lot of times

1015
00:57:31.199 --> 00:57:34.199
I feel really insecure, like why am I telling these stories?

1016
00:57:34.320 --> 00:57:36.920
I'm not an expert, I don't have all the answers.

1017
00:57:36.639 --> 00:57:38.239
True, And I think a lot of you, a lot

1018
00:57:38.280 --> 00:57:42.079
of celebrities that really have a hard time dealing with

1019
00:57:42.199 --> 00:57:44.519
fame and celebrity, you know, I think of like rock

1020
00:57:44.519 --> 00:57:47.119
stars that just couldn't handle kind of the fame.

1021
00:57:47.159 --> 00:57:47.440
I think.

1022
00:57:47.519 --> 00:57:50.440
I think it's true that does you know, success in

1023
00:57:50.480 --> 00:57:53.280
some ways can magnify your insecurities, because all of a

1024
00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:55.480
sudden you're on a world stage in front of everybody,

1025
00:57:55.519 --> 00:57:58.119
and it just exacerbates the pressure on you.

1026
00:57:58.159 --> 00:58:00.760
I would think, well, like you the other day we

1027
00:58:00.760 --> 00:58:03.400
were at Costco and you felt like you could go

1028
00:58:03.480 --> 00:58:05.920
ahead people in line. You were like, I am the

1029
00:58:05.960 --> 00:58:10.760
host of a modestly successful podcast. Have you ever heard

1030
00:58:10.800 --> 00:58:12.480
of Love Mary Kill? You do that all the time.

1031
00:58:12.519 --> 00:58:15.199
I do not remember this so embarrassing.

1032
00:58:14.880 --> 00:58:18.320
Like we'll go to you know, the restaurant, and you'll

1033
00:58:18.360 --> 00:58:20.519
be like, I am the host of Love Mary Kill.

1034
00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:21.880
I demanded a table.

1035
00:58:21.719 --> 00:58:23.880
You're making all of this up. I just want that

1036
00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:27.480
to be insensitive. Rich I don't know, because you lie.

1037
00:58:28.719 --> 00:58:31.639
We talked about Oscar's patterns with women, like he would

1038
00:58:31.800 --> 00:58:34.159
he would fall in love really fast, like he would

1039
00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:36.199
meet someone and be like the next day like, yeah,

1040
00:58:36.239 --> 00:58:38.519
I'm going to marry this person, and then he would

1041
00:58:38.559 --> 00:58:41.880
become like possessive, controlling. And I think we've seen this

1042
00:58:42.000 --> 00:58:44.480
type of pattern before. But what do you think that

1043
00:58:44.800 --> 00:58:46.119
says about Oscar?

1044
00:58:46.639 --> 00:58:49.000
Well, his father wasn't in his life, right, his mother

1045
00:58:49.119 --> 00:58:51.400
passed away. I think he was just looking for love.

1046
00:58:51.840 --> 00:58:54.599
He wanted someone to care for him and just support

1047
00:58:54.639 --> 00:58:56.800
him and nurture him. I think we all need that,

1048
00:58:57.079 --> 00:58:59.760
and you know he might have with his disability, he

1049
00:58:59.840 --> 00:59:02.440
might have needed that even more because he was so

1050
00:59:02.480 --> 00:59:05.840
busy telling everyone his whole life, I'm good, I'm strong,

1051
00:59:06.039 --> 00:59:08.880
I can do anything I want to, right, But at

1052
00:59:08.880 --> 00:59:10.840
the end of the day, he was still a vulnerable

1053
00:59:10.960 --> 00:59:14.360
human being with emotions, and you know, he needed nurturing too.

1054
00:59:14.280 --> 00:59:17.000
And I think in some ways his emotional maturity may

1055
00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:19.599
have been stunted a little bit by the loss of

1056
00:59:19.639 --> 00:59:21.679
his mother and just everything that he had been through.

1057
00:59:21.719 --> 00:59:22.280
So he made it.

1058
00:59:22.440 --> 00:59:26.039
That's a very salient point. Yeah, I think it's really fascinating.

1059
00:59:26.280 --> 00:59:29.039
We talked about this a little bit, but how you

1060
00:59:28.559 --> 00:59:31.400
become a normal person though Oscar was never really a

1061
00:59:31.440 --> 00:59:36.280
normal person because of his being a double amputee. But

1062
00:59:36.880 --> 00:59:39.000
when you have this level of fame and all of

1063
00:59:39.039 --> 00:59:41.559
a sudden you can have whatever you want, you know,

1064
00:59:41.599 --> 00:59:44.199
and you get this special treatment, it really must mess

1065
00:59:44.239 --> 00:59:44.800
with your brain.

1066
00:59:45.039 --> 00:59:45.880
Yeah, for sure.

1067
00:59:46.239 --> 00:59:48.800
Like we talked about, I think that's true for anybody

1068
00:59:48.880 --> 00:59:52.239
who becomes wildly famous, but I think especially in his case,

1069
00:59:52.280 --> 00:59:54.159
it must have been really hard to handle that.

1070
00:59:55.039 --> 00:59:58.280
Another thing I'm curious about is when the Paralympics are.

1071
00:59:58.159 --> 00:59:59.360
Are they every four years?

1072
00:59:59.559 --> 01:00:02.559
Yeah, coincide with the Olympic Games. I think there shortly

1073
01:00:02.599 --> 01:00:04.480
after the Olympics in the same city.

1074
01:00:04.760 --> 01:00:08.039
Are there races between the Paralympics.

1075
01:00:07.719 --> 01:00:10.280
For Paralympic runners? Yeah, I think there are a number

1076
01:00:10.280 --> 01:00:12.679
of different events. It's just the Paralympic Games are the

1077
01:00:12.719 --> 01:00:15.079
big ones. But yeah, there are other events that he

1078
01:00:15.119 --> 01:00:16.559
would train for and compete in.

1079
01:00:16.800 --> 01:00:20.519
Samantha had alluded to him having an alcohol and maybe

1080
01:00:20.599 --> 01:00:22.320
drug problem or am I.

1081
01:00:22.119 --> 01:00:24.599
Just alcohol is what She mentioned that he drank a

1082
01:00:24.639 --> 01:00:25.760
lot when he wasn't.

1083
01:00:25.519 --> 01:00:28.440
Training, So I'm curious when he wasn't training. Was it

1084
01:00:28.559 --> 01:00:31.079
just here and there or once at a time or

1085
01:00:31.159 --> 01:00:31.880
years at a time.

1086
01:00:32.119 --> 01:00:35.280
I am not sure exactly, but what I would guess

1087
01:00:35.480 --> 01:00:38.559
is that, you know, he had significant events obviously every

1088
01:00:38.559 --> 01:00:41.480
four years, but then maybe a couple others in between

1089
01:00:41.519 --> 01:00:43.760
there that he would train really hard for, and then

1090
01:00:43.800 --> 01:00:46.039
maybe he would take a few months off and yeah,

1091
01:00:46.280 --> 01:00:47.800
not train and just relax.

1092
01:00:48.039 --> 01:00:49.920
Yeah. Well, I like to keep on top of the

1093
01:00:49.920 --> 01:00:54.599
Peloton leader board, so yes, I minimize my alcohol.

1094
01:00:56.039 --> 01:00:56.639
Very smart.

1095
01:00:57.159 --> 01:00:59.000
Please be sure to come back and join us for

1096
01:00:59.199 --> 01:00:59.679
part two.

1097
01:00:59.760 --> 01:01:01.840
As we talk about Oscar.

1098
01:01:01.559 --> 01:01:11.239
And Riva's relationship. Our little friend Cosmo is being quite

1099
01:01:11.239 --> 01:01:13.920
the noisy cat, so I apologize if people heard him.

1100
01:01:14.119 --> 01:01:15.639
I think people love to hear him.

1101
01:01:16.280 --> 01:01:17.119
He was very.

1102
01:01:17.320 --> 01:01:21.360
Especially vocal today. I think he's upset because the Christmas

1103
01:01:21.400 --> 01:01:23.559
decorations are no longer here.

1104
01:01:23.840 --> 01:01:26.800
Yeah, we took them down. I'm curious how long everyone

1105
01:01:26.880 --> 01:01:31.199
leaves their Christmas stuff up, but I think I started

1106
01:01:31.239 --> 01:01:36.440
taking it down on the thirtieth because it's been curely. Yeah,

1107
01:01:36.480 --> 01:01:38.079
so it was up for like six weeks, and once

1108
01:01:38.079 --> 01:01:40.320
you have to start having to dust your Christmas decoration,

1109
01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:42.079
that might be time to take him down. Or it

1110
01:01:42.119 --> 01:01:43.960
was for us anyways, but yeah, it was like, God,

1111
01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:46.159
our house is so dark and so ugly.

1112
01:01:46.199 --> 01:01:48.199
Now our Christmas.

1113
01:01:47.840 --> 01:01:49.920
Tree is still up, but I think tomorrow I'm going

1114
01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:53.639
to take it to the sad place where old Christmas

1115
01:01:53.719 --> 01:01:54.159
trees go.

1116
01:01:54.960 --> 01:01:56.639
Well, no, they are recycled.

1117
01:01:57.800 --> 01:01:59.920
They are recycled, but it's kind of sad because you

1118
01:02:00.039 --> 01:02:02.719
show up. They have like designated places in an arbor

1119
01:02:02.800 --> 01:02:04.880
where you can take your Christmas tree. And every year

1120
01:02:04.920 --> 01:02:06.480
I take our Christmas tree there and it's just like

1121
01:02:06.519 --> 01:02:09.639
this giant pile of you know, Christmas trees that are

1122
01:02:09.679 --> 01:02:11.000
no longer needed.

1123
01:02:11.119 --> 01:02:11.639
So it's a lot.

1124
01:02:11.679 --> 01:02:13.559
Well, but they get chipped and then they get to be,

1125
01:02:13.760 --> 01:02:15.840
you know, part of nature again. So it's a good thing.

1126
01:02:15.880 --> 01:02:18.079
But it is funny because we have we put a

1127
01:02:18.119 --> 01:02:21.760
lot of like lighted, like swaggy garland things up and

1128
01:02:22.159 --> 01:02:25.519
throughout the Okay, mostly me and our house is really

1129
01:02:25.559 --> 01:02:29.800
bright and pretty, and now it's like pretty dark dungeon. Yeah,

1130
01:02:30.039 --> 01:02:33.199
it's a dark, undecorated dungeon. I know everyone feels that way,

1131
01:02:33.199 --> 01:02:35.280
but I'm like, okay, we need more pictures on the walls.

1132
01:02:35.320 --> 01:02:36.440
We need something here.

1133
01:02:36.480 --> 01:02:39.199
Because it does feel weird when it comes down, like

1134
01:02:39.239 --> 01:02:42.000
you don't notice it all year long, but then when

1135
01:02:42.159 --> 01:02:45.519
all the decorations come down, it actually feels like like

1136
01:02:45.559 --> 01:02:48.360
you can hear sound echo off the walls. More like

1137
01:02:48.400 --> 01:02:51.440
it doesn't get absorbed because you got these things up,

1138
01:02:51.440 --> 01:02:52.320
there's less light.

1139
01:02:52.480 --> 01:02:53.840
It does. It's a weird feeling.

1140
01:02:54.079 --> 01:02:56.239
Yeah, I don't. I don't love it, but I mean

1141
01:02:56.280 --> 01:02:59.760
it does like cleaner and you know we're put together.

1142
01:03:00.320 --> 01:03:00.599
True.

1143
01:03:00.760 --> 01:03:02.519
Yeah, but I am probably going to buy a couple

1144
01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:03.880
of new pictures because.

1145
01:03:04.039 --> 01:03:05.760
We've got some that we still need to put up.

1146
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:09.280
I think we bought at an art museum in Chicago.

1147
01:03:09.599 --> 01:03:10.320
We put those up.

1148
01:03:10.360 --> 01:03:10.679
We did.

1149
01:03:11.039 --> 01:03:14.800
Yeah, I got you. I do one for Christmas? Though,

1150
01:03:15.039 --> 01:03:16.679
tell everyone what I got you for Christmas. It was

1151
01:03:16.760 --> 01:03:18.760
kind of it's true crime related.

1152
01:03:19.000 --> 01:03:22.159
It is. It is a true black Cat poster.

1153
01:03:22.280 --> 01:03:24.320
I guess I'm not sure who the artist is. It

1154
01:03:24.400 --> 01:03:25.440
is an actual work of art.

1155
01:03:25.559 --> 01:03:28.679
It was like a friend. Yeah, you've probably seen it before,

1156
01:03:28.920 --> 01:03:32.920
but I got it because it was from the staircase.

1157
01:03:33.400 --> 01:03:36.639
It was at the bottom of the Peterson But I

1158
01:03:36.719 --> 01:03:39.599
can't Kathleen and Michael Peterson's house. Yeah, I just thought

1159
01:03:39.639 --> 01:03:41.199
it was funny to put that at the bottom of

1160
01:03:41.199 --> 01:03:43.199
our staircase. And there's a black cat on it.

1161
01:03:43.280 --> 01:03:43.760
So yeah.

1162
01:03:44.039 --> 01:03:46.000
It was also at the bottom of the staircase where

1163
01:03:46.039 --> 01:03:50.159
his first wife also died after falling down stairs as well.

1164
01:03:50.239 --> 01:03:51.960
I don't think I remembered that, so it was at

1165
01:03:52.000 --> 01:03:52.559
the bottom of it.

1166
01:03:52.800 --> 01:03:54.840
Oh, I know, it's kind of creepy.

1167
01:03:55.920 --> 01:03:57.960
It is a cool poster though, it's cool art, and

1168
01:03:58.320 --> 01:04:00.599
because we do have black cats, it's kind of appropriate

1169
01:04:00.639 --> 01:04:01.000
as well.

1170
01:04:01.039 --> 01:04:03.239
But we didn't put it at the bottom of our staircase.

1171
01:04:03.280 --> 01:04:06.199
No, it is. I mean that's my intention, but we

1172
01:04:06.239 --> 01:04:08.360
don't have a but it's right next to I guess.

1173
01:04:08.159 --> 01:04:09.840
It's close to the bottom, not quite.

1174
01:04:09.960 --> 01:04:11.800
Yeah, we composed a picture of it.

1175
01:04:11.880 --> 01:04:12.760
Yes, we should do that.

1176
01:04:12.920 --> 01:04:15.079
I want to talk about one other Christmas present that

1177
01:04:15.119 --> 01:04:16.719
we've been getting a lot of use out of the

1178
01:04:16.760 --> 01:04:17.559
last few days.

1179
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:19.519
Oh, before you say that, just let me say thank

1180
01:04:19.519 --> 01:04:21.679
you to the listeners that sent Christmas cards. That was

1181
01:04:22.320 --> 01:04:25.159
very sweet and generous of you. And it's always so

1182
01:04:25.199 --> 01:04:28.320
it is our verbal thank you because you're probably not

1183
01:04:28.360 --> 01:04:30.079
going to get anything in the mail. Yeah.

1184
01:04:30.159 --> 01:04:32.360
Last year we were a little more ambitious and we

1185
01:04:32.519 --> 01:04:33.639
got some cards in the mail.

1186
01:04:33.679 --> 01:04:34.039
This year.

1187
01:04:34.280 --> 01:04:36.760
You did that. I did not. Yeah, that was so nice.

1188
01:04:36.840 --> 01:04:38.880
But it was so nice of you guys, and we

1189
01:04:38.960 --> 01:04:41.000
love you and we appreciate it. Yeah, I'm sorry I

1190
01:04:41.079 --> 01:04:41.639
interrupted you.

1191
01:04:41.760 --> 01:04:43.639
Well, I just wanted to talk about the other present

1192
01:04:43.679 --> 01:04:45.960
that we got that we've been using quite a bit,

1193
01:04:46.000 --> 01:04:47.039
and that is the.

1194
01:04:46.880 --> 01:04:49.360
Basketball Papa Shot. Oh yeah game.

1195
01:04:49.519 --> 01:04:51.840
So you you bought one of these games that you

1196
01:04:51.960 --> 01:04:54.360
find them in like arcades and bars where you, you know,

1197
01:04:54.440 --> 01:04:56.199
shoot as many baskets as you can.

1198
01:04:56.159 --> 01:04:58.760
And airbnbs that have had them, and we always have

1199
01:04:58.800 --> 01:04:59.480
a fun time with them.

1200
01:04:59.599 --> 01:05:01.800
Yes, it's really fun that our son and I finally

1201
01:05:01.880 --> 01:05:04.239
got around putting it together. It was a little bit

1202
01:05:04.280 --> 01:05:06.719
of a project to put it together. But now that

1203
01:05:06.760 --> 01:05:07.679
it's together.

1204
01:05:07.400 --> 01:05:10.639
It's a lot of fun. Well, it's fun for you,

1205
01:05:10.719 --> 01:05:12.800
let's just put it that way. Someone might be a

1206
01:05:12.840 --> 01:05:14.760
little too competitive, just like Oscar.

1207
01:05:15.519 --> 01:05:16.400
Not that competitive.

1208
01:05:16.519 --> 01:05:19.719
Oh my god, you are so don't even lie, you're

1209
01:05:19.800 --> 01:05:20.480
so competitive.

1210
01:05:20.519 --> 01:05:21.480
Get a little competitive.

1211
01:05:21.559 --> 01:05:24.440
But it's it's a fun game. But I feel a

1212
01:05:24.480 --> 01:05:28.480
little dumb because you should always measure before you buy

1213
01:05:28.800 --> 01:05:31.480
a large thing. Because we were thinking about getting a

1214
01:05:31.519 --> 01:05:34.480
sauna and it literally is in the place where we

1215
01:05:34.480 --> 01:05:35.400
were going to put the sauna.

1216
01:05:35.480 --> 01:05:37.920
Yeah, really, no other place for it, no other No,

1217
01:05:38.039 --> 01:05:41.480
it's not true. I will say that our sun beats

1218
01:05:41.519 --> 01:05:44.719
me regularly at it, so even though I am competitive,

1219
01:05:44.880 --> 01:05:48.039
I am not really at the top of the family

1220
01:05:48.559 --> 01:05:52.519
basketball rankings. Okay, well, thank you all so much for listening.

1221
01:05:52.559 --> 01:05:56.480
We hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Please rate, review, follow,

1222
01:05:56.519 --> 01:06:00.159
and subscribe. Find us on social media and YouTube, or

1223
01:06:00.159 --> 01:06:03.760
send us an email at Lovemarykill at gmail dot com.

1224
01:06:03.800 --> 01:06:07.039
Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Go to patreon dot

1225
01:06:07.079 --> 01:06:10.639
com slash Lovemrykill. We have one tier for five dollars

1226
01:06:10.679 --> 01:06:14.000
a month for early ad free episodes and.

1227
01:06:14.239 --> 01:06:16.320
A help me out here a monthly bonus episode.

1228
01:06:16.360 --> 01:06:19.239
There, there you go. Until next time, don't kill your

1229
01:06:19.239 --> 01:07:02.760
wife and don't kill your husband.