Oscar Pistorius has was released from prison almost 11 years ago after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The former Paralympian went from being one of the world’s most famous athletes to a criminal and was eventually convicted of Ms Steenkamp’s murder.
Here is a timeline of how we got to this point:
November 22, 1986
Oscar Pistorius was born in Johannesburg, South Africa’s third largest city South Africa. He was born without fibulae and had both legs amputated below the knee a month before his first birthday.
January 2004
After sustaining a knee injury while playing rugby union, the now 18-year-old learned to run during his rehabilitation at a performance center in the South African capital.
September 2004
Just seven months after getting his first pair of running prosthetics, Pistorius wins the 200m final at the Paralympics in Athens in a world record time of 21.97. He won despite falling in the preliminary round.
He also returned home with a bronze medal in the 100 m. By this time he was front page news around the world.
In 2004, 15-year-old Pistorius won gold in the T44 200m (21.97 seconds) and bronze in the T44 100m final at the Athens Paralympic Games
(Getty Images)
March 2005
Competing against able-bodied athletes for the first time, he finished sixth in the 400m final of the South African Championships, a time that would have broken the world record in his Paralympic category.
May 2006
A year later, Pistorius cemented his status as the “fastest man without legs” by winning the 100m, 200m and 400m races at the 2006 Paralympic World Championships.
September 2008
At the Beijing Paralympics, Pistorius repeats his World Cup performance and becomes the first athlete in history to win gold in all three sprint events in the T43/44 category. He breaks two Paralympic records and sets a world record in the 400 m in 47.49 seconds.
August 2011
After qualifying with a personal best in the 400m earlier this year, Pistorius took part in the South Korean World Championships with the South African team, winning a historic silver medal in the 4x400m relay. He is the first Paralympic athlete to win a World Championships medal.
Oscar Pistorius competes in the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the first Paralympic athlete to take part
August 2012
Competes in the London Olympics in the 400m individual race, finishing eighth in the semi-finals, but is the first Paralympic athlete to compete in the Olympics.
In the following months he won gold in the T43/44 400m and silver in the 200m at the Paralympic Games.
November 2012
Pistorious begins dating 29-year-old model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, a match local media compares to Victoria and David Beckham
This November 4, 2012 file photo shows South Africa’s Olympic sprint star Oscar Pistorius and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp during the Feather Awards at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg.
(AFP/Getty Images)
February 14, 2013
Pistorius fired four shots through a locked bathroom door at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day, killing Ms Steenkamp.
February 15, 2013
Pistorius is charged with murder.
March 3, 2014
The murder trial begins in the High Court in Pretoria. Pistorius denies the murder charge and says he believes a burglar broke into his house and was in his bathroom when he fired.
April 7, 2014
Pistorius takes the witness stand. The next day he breaks down in tears and court is adjourned early after the defense said Pistorius was too emotional to continue his testimony.
May 13, 2014
Prosecutors are making a formal request to send Pistorius to a psychiatric hospital for 30 days for evaluation. This came after defense witness and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Merryll Vorster said Pistorius was suffering from generalized anxiety disorder at the time of the shooting.
June 30, 2014
The process continues. The court is told the athlete had no mental health issues when he shot Steenkamp.
September 11, 2014
Pistorius is found not guilty of second-degree premeditated murder. Judge Thokozile Masipa describes the athlete’s actions as “negligent”.
September 12, 2014
Pistorius is found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by Judge Masipa.
October 21, 2014
Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence he will begin the next day.
October 2015
Pistorius is released under house arrest to serve the remainder of his sentence at his uncle’s home in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria.
Two months earlier, South Africa’s justice minister blocked Pistorius’ expected release on parole after serving 10 months of his five-year sentence.
December 2015
The Supreme Court of Appeal overturns the teacher’s verdict and finds Pistorius guilty of murder. He argues he should have expected the possibility of killing someone when he fired the shots through the locked bathroom door of his home.
Judge Eric Leach said Pistorius had the requisite legal intent to be found guilty of murder. “Under these circumstances, I have no doubt that the defendant, when firing the fatal shots, must have foreseen that whoever was behind the toilet door might die, but resigned himself to the occurrence of this event and resigned himself to the loss of that person’s life game,” he said.
General view of Atteridgeville Prison, where Oscar Pistorius was held for five years
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
July 2016
Pistorius will be sent back to prison for six years, less than half the minimum sentence of 15 years sought by prosecutors.
He is initially taken to the notorious Kgosi Mampuru II maximum security prison in Pretoria, home to some of South Africa’s most dangerous criminals, but he is held in the hospital wing.
He was later transferred to Atteridgeville Prison in Johannesburg.
November 2017
The Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled Pistorius’ murder sentence to 13 years and five months, accepting prosecutors’ argument that the original sentence was “appallingly lenient.”
June 2022
Pistorius meets Steenkamp’s father as part of a victim-offender dialogue – an integral part of South Africa’s restorative justice program, which brings together parties affected by a crime to achieve closure.
Few details were released about the meeting and Steenkamp’s father died the following year.
March 2023
After serving half of his 13-year prison sentence, Pistorius faces a parole hearing.
Reeva Steenkamp’s mother June said in a statement ahead of Pistorius’ parole hearing, now 37, that she was not convinced he had been rehabilitated.
However, she added that she “forgave him a long time ago because I knew for sure that if I had to hold on to my anger, I wouldn’t survive.”
His parole is rejected. Prison authorities claim he has not served the required minimum prison term.
October 2023
The Constitutional Court overturned the original decision on his probation. They say Pistorius has served half of his sentence by March 21, 2023, making him eligible for parole.
November 2023
The Department of Correctional Services sets January 5, 2024 as the date for Pistorius’ release on parole.
January 5, 2024
Pistorius is released on parole. He will be under the supervision of South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) until his sentence expires in December 2029 and will face a number of conditions.
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