Talk:Oscar Pistorius/Archive 2

very far italian ancestry

on 1/28/2008 he gave italian newspaper "Gazzetta dello Sport" an interview where he said he has very far italian ancestry, 800 years old...79.14.91.153 (talk) 16:53, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Is that article available on-line? If so, perhaps an Italian-speaking editor can have a look at it and decide if it's information that's worth adding to the article. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 18:11, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

here http://www.gazzetta.it/Sport_Vari/Atletica/Primo_Piano/2007/07_Luglio/11/pistorius.shtml there is written his mother's grandfather was italian79.14.57.57 (talk) 11:13, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

OK, I've created a new "Personal life" section and added the information to the article. The section needs to be expanded with more information, though. Help from other editors is welcome. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 14:58, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Decent article

Good, well written article. Nice to see. Mglovesfun (talk) 21:41, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm only one of the many editors working to keep this article up to date, but thanks for your kind comments. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 23:00, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Time comparisons

I'm confused here...what is the significance of this section? It seems to be three random Olympic times compared to Pistorius. At first, I thought it was meant to show how he compared against the top three Olympic times in each race, but 11.2 is certainly not the second fastest 100m time for men. I also don't understand why he is being compared against women. And finally, because he is being compared to runners like Justin Gatlin in this section, the claim that Pistorius' time is the world record is also confusing.

And finally, because this is going to go through a GA review soon, you will want to make sure you have all of the race times and results sourced. For example, there are currently no references for the results of the 2004 Paralympics in the "Career" section. GaryColemanFan (talk) 15:30, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing these issues out. I'd agree with you that the purpose of the "Time comparisons" section should be to show how Pistorius's times compare against the top three Olympic times in each race. I would suggest the removal of historic Olympic records (1906, 1920 and 1928) unless they remain unbroken, and the records relating to women's races. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 17:06, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

OK, I've updated the "Paralympic medals won" and "Time comparisons" sections. There's information at the Össur website about other paralympic medals that Pistorius has received that could be added to the article – please help. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 18:49, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

While carrying out the above updates, I came across a news article that states: "Had Oscar Pistorius lined up for the Olympic 400m final in 1928, he would have left his opponents for dust. The double amputee's world record time of 47.34 seconds would have been good enough for gold at all eight previous Games too." Perhaps that is why the historical Olympic records were originally in the article. Does anyone think these should be reinserted for comparison? — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 23:31, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

career

In 2005 pistorius finished 6th with a world record time? I don't think I'm aware of something. Somebody help me with this.69.122.62.231 (talk) 22:06, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

I think this was a misreading of the source (possibly by me – I can't remember), which said "6th World Record". This obviously meant that this was the sixth World Record that Pistorius had achieved, not that he finished sixth in the relevant race! I've updated the article. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 23:02, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

State or province?

Hi, Dodger67. Wanted to check something with you. In the article, you changed "state" to "province", giving the reason that there are no states in South Africa, only provinces. However, in the Daily Telegraph interview given in the reference, Pistorius says he "played Northern States water polo and state tennis". Was Pistorius speaking inaccurately? — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 14:30, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

I can only imagine he was using American style terminology "for the benefit of foreigners". Was the interview conducted by the Telegraph itself or did they get it from another (possibly US) source. The term "province" is not very widely understood globally. Roger (talk) 14:42, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

It appears to be an interview by The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. So there are no "Northern States" in South Africa? Are they called the Northern Provinces, or is there actually no special term? From the interview, it sounds as if "Northern States" is a special term used in South Africa. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 14:49, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

One of our provinces was named "Northern Province" for a few years in the late nineties as part of the post Apartheid costitutional realignment - see Limpopo. However, (here's the kicker) in terms of sports the "provincial" arrangement does not always follow the actual provinces. Most sports federations have many more "provinces" than the 9 "actual" provinces of the country. I really think Oscar used the word "state" thinking that the concept would be better understood than if he said "province". Or else he may simply be more used to being interviewed by American than British journalists. Either way it doesn't really matter - SA has provinces, not states - the whole country is a single "state" in the constitutional sense of the word. Roger (talk) 15:53, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

That's fine, then. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 16:29, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

May 2007 NYT article did not say he was training for 2008 Paralympics

The article currently cites http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/sports/othersports/15runner.html to support the claim that Pastorius is now training for the 2008 Paralympics. That may be some other (later, post-non-qualification?) NYTimes article; they certainly weren't saying that back in May 2007. Can some learned citation wrangler fix this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.37.230.13 (talk) 19:30, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for spotting the error. I've started a new "2008 Summer Paralympics" section, since there's likely to be more information to be added to the article in the coming weeks anyway. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 08:17, 7 September 2008 (UTC)