Bondy: In life, Blade Runner far from heroic

Bondy: In life, Blade Runner far from heroic

If we learned anything from the O.J. Simpson affair, it is that sports heroes are not easily separated from their past, epic deeds. Their trials become public arenas, tortuous affairs, and not everyone is willing to believe the worst of them.

Even under such a soft, glowing light, however, it does not look good right now for Oscar Pistorius. The Blade Runner is charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, and will appear in court on Friday. Steenkamp, 30, a model for the Capacity Relations agency, was shot four times sometime before dawn in Pistorius house in a gated Pretoria, South Africa, community. In the past on Twitter, Steenkamp had spoken out against assaults on women. There had been previous domestic incidents involving Pistorius.

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“There is no other suspect involved,” police spokeswoman Denise Beukes said. “We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things that happened earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place. There are witnesses and there have also been interviews this morning.”

Long before Pistorius, 26, became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics when he sprinted at the 2012 London Games, he was a local hero in and around South Africa. Here was a pioneer spirit, a man who would accept neither the rude setbacks of nature nor the archaic rules of the International Olympic Committee. He came across as an eternally positive thinker. After he had raced in the Olympic 400-meter semifinals and relays, he was a charming interview, a man who accepted defeat as if it was an enormous triumph â€" which, of course, it was.

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“The whole experience is mind-blowing,” he said then. “It’s a dream come true.”

And so when Pistorius contends, as he reportedly has done, that he shot Steenkamp in a case of mistaken identity, some portion of the South African population likely will embrace that explanation. They may well ignore the four bullets and the previous incidents at Pistorius’ home. In this instance, a culture of crime and paranoia, of guns and barbed wire, may become the Blade Runner’s best and only defense.

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If you traveled around South Africa during the 2010 World Cup, you didn’t directly see or experience violent crimes. But the lifestyle appeared desperately skewed by security concerns and perhaps a degree of paranoia. The upscale suburban homes â€" the same sort of houses you might spot in Montclair or Bronxville â€" were surrounded by high, cement walls, security cameras and electrical wire. Neighborhoods were carefully cloistered. A flock of security guards protected gated communities like the one where Pistorius lived.

There are a lot of guns in South Africa, as there are in America, both legal and illegal. Activist organizations such as Gun Free South Africa are hoping to change the rules and regulations, but have run into resistance in part because of survivalist attitudes and enduring racial divisions.

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Against this violent backdrop, the case against Pistorius was still evolving on Thursday, as police opposed his application for bail. He was said to be cooperating. A handgun, the alleged weapon, was found. Steenkamp and Pistorius had been a high-visibility couple. Steenkamp’s personal publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, told Sky News the pair had a “healthy, fabulous relationship.”

According to South African media outlets, Pistorius told police he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, and that perhaps she had tried to surprise him, tragically and romantically, on Valentine’s Day. But Beukes said there had been those previous incidents at the home, which apparently contributed to the charge.

“This is a very quiet area and this is a secure estate,” Beukes said, downplaying the notion that Pistorius would feel the need to defend himself against an intruder.

There may or may not be tape from security cameras to bolster the case, to render events clearer. We only know that heroes in sports are not necessarily heroes in life. Pistorius was unquestionably a sports hero, a Paralympic champion, an unlikely Olympic competitor. He was born without a fibula in either leg, and then both legs were amputated between his knees and ankles at the age of 11 months. He had overcome all of that, and then overcame the bureaucrats of the IOC to gain admission into the London Games.

He performed well there, reaching the semifinal heats. He presented himself in London as a true sportsman, though he was bitter later about a Paralympics defeat to a competitor he thought had stretched the rules. Now he is charged with murder.

South Africans are reeling. From what we remember of O.J. Simpson, this won’t get any easier for them.