JOHANNESBURG — Oscar Pistorius has been running on his blades again and his return to regular training is imminent, his agent says. It is the first time it has been confirmed that the athlete has run since he was charged with the Valentine's Day shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. A grainy cellphone photo of what appears to be Pistorius on the track at the University of Pretoria was published Thursday on the front page of the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper in South Africa. The photograph — taken by a high school student from a bus passing by the track — shows the double amputee at some distance wearing his unmistakable blades and dark lycra running clothes and walking on a track with his hands on his hips. In response to the newspaper's claim that Pistorius had begun training as much as two weeks ago, his family denied that he was on “any official training program” and had only been out running “on a number of isolated occasions.” “Each time has been very difficult and he has struggled immensely with the decision to even leave the house,” Arnold Pistorius, Oscar's uncle, said in the statement. But the family had encouraged Pistorius to get back on the track, his uncle said. The photo was taken on March 24 by teenager Lisa Smith, her field hockey coach said, when their team was visiting the University of Pretoria, where Pistorius' regular practice facility is. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Pistorius had been at the track in the South African capital on the day of the photograph and had done some jogging. It was the first time Pistorius had pulled on his running blades since he shot Steenkamp dead at his home in the early hours of Feb. 14, his agent, Peet van Zyl, told the AP later Thursday. Pistorius was only “having a jog around the track,” the agent reiterated, as the newspaper claimed sources had told it the Olympic 400-meter runner and Paralympic champion had begun full training at the university on March 21. While Pistorius has not yet returned to a training routine, the agent said, his return could be any day now and the image of the world's most famous disabled athlete back on his running blades was likely to become more and more common again. — AP
