South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is on his way to London.
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is on his way to London.
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is on his way to London.
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is on his way to London.

UAE

Oscar Pistorius gets London 2012 Olympic nod

Double amputee named in 4x400m relay team for South Africa.

Press Association

July 04, 2012

  • English
  • Arabic

Oscar Pistorius will become the first amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics after being selected for South Africa's 4x400 metres relay team.

Double amputee Pistorius, known as the 'Blade Runner' due to the prosthetic carbon fibre limbs he uses, narrowly missed out on a place in the individual event by just 0.22 seconds.

But Pistorius, who will also compete at the Paralympics, was named in a 13-strong group of athletes by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) that completes their team for London 2012.

The news is a huge boost for 25-year-old Pistorius following his disappointment in the individual competition.

He had already clocked an Olympic 'A' standard time earlier this year but was unable to reach the mark again in an international meeting, as stipulated by the national federation's qualifying rules.

Needing a time of 45.30secs in the African Championships in Benin, he managed 45.52s in his second-placed finish.

Tweeting after receiving the news, Pistorius said: "Today is really one of the happiest days of my life! Will be in London2012 for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games!

"Thank you to everyone that has made me the athlete I am! God, family and friends, my competitors and supporters! You have all had a hand!"

Pistorius has already made history when competing at the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu.

He was part of the 4x400m team there, but was left out when they won silver in the final.

Pistorius was banned from competing alongside able-bodied athletes just before the 2008 Olympics - a ruling he later had overturned.

The rest of today's inclusions - which take the final South African Olympic squad to 125 - were swimmers Troyden Prinsloo, Jessica Roux, Darren Murray and Trudi Maree, Khotso Mokoena (long jump), Anaso Jobodwana (200m), Andre Olivier (800m), Willem Coertzen (decathlon) and Lehann Fourie (110m hurdles).

Unveiling the final team members, SASCOC president Gideon Sam said: "Finally, we have a complete squad.

"It's taken four long years of work but now we can concentrate on doing our best at the Games. The preparation has been done and now it's up to our athletes to take over in London and show us what they're made of.

"As I have said many times before, we are not taking passengers to London. Everyone has met selection criteria and are genuine Olympic Games material, either now or for 2016. I wish them all the best."

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”