It began as a fairy tale romance. Oscar Pistorius proved that you don’t need legs to win gold medals. The South African is handsome and healthy, and he quickly caught the eye of Reeva Steenkamp, a blonde model. But something snapped in Oscar’s mind on Thursday, Fenruary 14, 2013, and he shot his girlfriend through the bathroom door, according to reports by the South African The City Press. It got weirder.
The Mirror reported that Oscar called his best friend first, not the police, and a neighbor covered her body with towels. Oscar’s best friend, Justin Divaris, told The Mirror, “It was very traumatic. By the time we got there, it was already a crime scene and we weren’t allowed in the house.” Thirty-year-old Reeva laid in a pool of her own blood, and her boyfriend sobbed as police investigated the crime scene.
According to The Daily Beast, Reeva worked as a model and advocated for an end to violence against women. Many people, including columnist Buzz Bissinger, experienced an initial wave of shock when the reports came rolling in.
How could an Olympic hero with two amputated legs commit such a horrible crime? But, as Bissinger points out in his article for the Daily Beast, our beliefs in the moral purity of star athletes is wrong and misguided. Idolizing athletes, or anyone in the public eye, blinds us to possible signs of abuse and violence, he says. Anna van der Hoven, a criminologist, told NDTV Sports, “I haven’t diagnosed [Oscar], but he also shows signs of someone with a narcisstic personality disorder.”
Earlier on Sunday, February 17, 2013, The City Press reported that police found a “bloodied cricket bat” on the crime scene, which will be analyzed to determine whose blood it is. Pending the investigation, Oscar’s agent has decided to withdraw Oscar from future races, USA TODAY reports.