Oscar Pistorius withdraws from 400 meter race with blister

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Oscar Pistorius has withdrawn from Wednesday's 400-meter race at the South African disabled championships, ending a tough meet for the double-amputee Olympic hopeful.

Agent Peet van Zyl says Pistorius was struggling with a blister on his leg which made it "very uncomfortable" to run, although the withdrawal was "more precaution than anything else."

Pistorius had a rare defeat in disabled competition in the 100 meters on Monday, finishing second to fellow South African Arnu Fourie. Pistorius hadn't run the 100 in nearly a year, and Fourie is a single-amputee runner.

On Tuesday, Pistorius made a mistake during the final changeover in the 4x100, which led to his team being disqualified.

Pistorius is expected to compete at South Africa's able-bodied nationals next month before traveling overseas. He needs one more Olympic-qualifying time in the 400 at an international event to be eligible for the London Games, according to criteria agreed on by national federation Athletics South Africa and the South African Olympic committee.

He ran 45.20 seconds this month to go inside the able-bodied qualifying time of 45.30 for the second time.

He needs to make that time again overseas before the qualifying cutoff of June 30. Should he go to London, he'd make history as the first amputee track athlete to run at the Olympics.