Quote of the day by Oscar Pistorius: ‘If you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself…’

"I’d like to show people that if you put the hard work in and you believe in yourself, then you can do whatever you want to do" — this is a quote by former South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius.

This quote by Oscar Pistorius tries to convey the message that discipline, effort and self-belief go hand-in-hand in whatever goal you are looking to achieve. In Oscar's career, it resonates quite well.

Oscar, also known as the Blade Runner, competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics. At the 2012 London Olympics, Oscar became the first double-leg amputee to take part in the Games, and reached the semi-finals of the men's 400m race.

In simple terms, it suggests putting your maximum effort into the goal you want to achieve, no matter how simple or how small the goal might be.

For a professional athlete, this means that they have to put in the hard work in training, no matter how rigorous the sessions might be.

The "believe in yourself" bit basically means to trust your instincts and maintain a vision of your success even if you are sceptical about achieving the goal.

The "do whatever you want to do" bit implies that impossibility is just an illusion, and that with hard work and self-belief, you would be able to achieve the goal that you once thought was impossible.

During the 2012 London Games, Nike used this quote in promotional campaigns and athlete profiles as Oscar tried to convey that his prosthetic "blades" were not a mechanical advantage, but rather a weapon that allowed him to believe in hard work.

Consistency is key: Once you identify a goal, it is important to be consistent in working towards it. Sure, some days might be bad, but is important to show up the next day and embrace the grind.

Ignore distractions and comparisons: In today's world of digital media, it is easy to get distracted when you're in front of your TV, phone or laptop. It is important to remove these distractions, and stay focussed on your major goal that you want to achieve.

However, he did not let his disability hinder his potential. In June 2003, while playing rugby for Pretoria Boys High School, Oscar suffered a horrific injury that hurt his knee.

He was only 16 years old at that time and feared that his sporting career was over. He then underwent his recovery at the University of Pretoria, and as part of his recovery programme, he was introduced to track running and trained under coach Ampie Louw.

In September 2004, Pistorius competed at the Athens Paralympics and won gold in the 200m race and bronze in the 100m race. He went on to win three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and two gold and one silver medal at the 2012 London Paralympics. Overall, he won eight medals at the Paralympics across three editions of the Games. He also competed at the 2012 London Olympics, and qualified for the semi-finals of the men's 400m race. He finished eighth in the semi-final heat and failed to qualify for the final.

However, Oscar soon turned from a hero to a villain after he murdered his girlfriend, Reeva ,Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day 2013.

At the initial trial in 2014, Judge Thokozile Masipa found him not guilty of murder but guilty of culpable homicide.

He was sentenced to five years in jail. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal found him guilty of murder, and in 2016, he was sentenced to six years in jail. In 2017, the Supreme Court increased his sentence to 13 years and five months.