The Iceland company that manufactured Oscar Pistorius‘ running blades used since at least 2004 cut ties with the first double amputee to run at the Olympics, two weeks into his murder trial.
“We’re no longer sponsoring Oscar Pistorius,” Ossur Chief Financial Officer Sveinn Solvason said, according to the New York Daily News.
Pistorius was known as the “Blade Runner” for his feats on Ossur’s “Flex-Foot Cheetah” prosthetic legs. He won eight medals over the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Paralympics and competed in the 400m at the 2012 Olympics.
Pistorius fatally shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early morning of Valentine’s Day 2013, saying he thought Steenkamp was an intruder locked in his bathroom.
He lost sponsors, such as Nike, but in the days after Steenkamp’s death, Ossur said it was awaiting the outcome of the police investigation, according to the Telegraph in England.
Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to charges, including murdering Steenkamp, and is two weeks into a high-profile trial in Pretoria, South Africa. Ossur decided not to wait for the outcome.
“It’s up to the courts of South Africa to rule in this matter,” Solvason said, according to Bloomberg. “We, as Ossur, don’t have any official stand in this matter on whether the man is innocent or guilty. But we’re no longer sponsoring Oscar Pistorius.”
Pistorius’ prosthetic legs, shorts covered in blood in trial photos
