South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius holds the hands of uncle Arnold (right) and other family members as he is taken down to the holding cells. (EPA)
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has ruled that Oscar Pistorius will not be allowed to return to competition until 2019 after he was sentenced to five years in prison for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
An IPC spokesman confirmed that Pistorius, the first athlete to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012, would be banned from the Rio Games even if he had been released on licence by that point.
The athlete’s counsel said following sentencing that he could serve as little as 10 months in prison before completing the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
But the IPC said that under its rules he would be banned from competition for the full five years unless he appealed and his sentence was formally reduced. His family have said there will not be any appeal.
“The rules state that if someone is given a five-year sentence by a court, they must serve that sentence before returning to competition,” an IPC spokesman told the Guardian.
The 27-year-old South African will be 33 by the time of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 but it is debatable whether he will be in any shape to compete by then.
There will also be a question mark over whether he will be able to travel freely to some countries having been convicted of culpable homicide.
The athlete’s future on the track has been the subject of much conjecture throughout his lengthy trial and sentencing.
The South African Olympic Committee said in the wake of his conviction that he would be free to compete again once out of prison because its regulations did not bar anyone with a criminal record, a stance the IPC then appeared to endorse.
But the IPC president, Sir Philip Craven, then told the Guardian that no decision had been taken and that no decision would be taken until he was formally sentenced.
Pistorius became a poster boy for the Paralympic movement in the run-up to London 2012. It is hoped that the conclusion of the high-profile trial will allow the IPC to move on and focus instead on the other stars created by the breakthrough London Games.
Privately, there may be some relief that the run-up to the Rio Olympics will not be dominated by a debate over whether Pistorius will compete or not.
In a statement, the International Olympic Committee added: “We take note of the court’s decision. This is a human tragedy for the family of Reeva Steenkamp and also for Oscar Pistorius. We hope very much that time will bring comfort to all those concerned but at this stage we have no further comment to make.”