Pistorius backs London for Paralympic Worlds bid

Posted: Monday 10th December 2012 | 16:03

SIX-TIME Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has given his full support to London's bid to host the 2017 Paralympic World Athletic Championships.

BLADE RUNNER: Oscar Pistorius would like to see the Paralympic World Athletics Championships go to London in 2017

Mayor of London Boris Johnson officially announced the city's bid to stage the tournament three days after London beat Doha to become the venue for the 2017 World Athletics Championship.

London would become the first city to host the two events side by side if the application is successful and Pistorius was quick to give the idea his backing.

"If we can have the World Championships here in 2017 it's going to be very special," he said, speaking at the BT British Olympic Ball.

"The London Olympic and Paralympic Games have been so special, nobody could have anticipated how fantastic it was going to be and to have something like that in 2017 it's just going to be remarkable once again."

The 26-year-old South African sprinter, who became the first double leg amputee to participate in an Olympic Games earlier this year, insists that there is no more supportive crowd than in the UK.

"There's no doubts that British supporters are the most supportive and the craziest in the world. If you think that an event this could be back here in 2017 with a lot of people shouting, it could be the best ever," he added

"I think if you look at the fact we've never had a Paralympic Games sell out at both sessions, we did in London, that says a lot.

"There was such a presence, there was such an aura around the stadium, they were such a vocal crowd," said the six-time gold medallist.

And despite giving his backing to London's bid, Pistorius believes that it will be too late in his career for him to participate.

"That's probably when I'm going to retire but if we can go full circle and bring it here it will be very special."

UK Athletics pledged to bid for the event if its campaign to host the Athletics World Championships were successful.

The cost of hosting the event is estimated to be £8.6 million, however it is hoped by organisers that that will be recouped in sponsorship and ticket sales after 1,185,976 tickets were sold for athletics events during the Paralympic Games.

Last year's IPC World Athletics Championships were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, and had 1,060 athletes participate from 80 different countries.

A final announcement is expected to be made within the next month, but no date has been set. They will take place a month before the Athletics World Championships.