Be Brave: Inspiring Olympic stories |

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Be Brave: Inspiring Olympic stories

July 27, 2012 in Be Brave

At OBI Creative we strive to live up to our founder Mary Ann O’Brien’s Be Brave philosophy in the work that we do for our clients. In the OBI blog’s Be Brave section we introduce everyday people that demonstrate bravery in business and in life.

Any Olympic-caliber athlete, whether a medalist or not, has made countless sacrifices to be the best at what they do. With the Olympic games starting today in London, we thought we’d highlight two inspiring Olympic stories from the 2012 Olympic games.

Oscar Pistorius (South Africa)

Previously we told you about Paralympic athletes wounded as U.S. soldiers who’ve carried their enduring spirit and bravery on the battlefield into competition. Well, one South African man, who would qualify for the Paralympics, is setting his sights on an unprecedented achievement.

Oscar Pistorius, dubbed the “Blade Runnr,” will be representing South Africa in the 400-meter dash and the 1,600-meter relay. He’s a double amputee and runs on prosthetic carbon fiber blades. Initially, it was ruled that his prosthesis gave him an unfair advantage, but that decision was overturned in 2008.

When he was 18 he ran the 400-meter race in 47.34 seconds at the South African Championships to come in sixth place. Many say that Pistorius will not medal, but his running in the games is an inspiring achievement with or without a medal.