Oscar Pistorius, a once inspirational figure who gained international fame as an Olympic sprinter for South Africa before he was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, will be released on parole, the authorities said on Friday. A parole board granted Mr. Pistorius’s petition on the basis that he had served half of his 15-year sentence he received for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home a decade ago, making him eligible for parole according to South African law. The Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that Mr. Pistorius was a “first-time offender, with a positive support system” and therefore met the requirements for parole, after a hearing at the Atteridgeville Correctional Center outside South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria. Before his downfall, Mr. Pistorius was celebrated in South Africa and around the world as an athlete who had overcome personal adversity as a double amputee and fought for the right to compete in the Olympics, earning the nickname the Blade Runner for the carbon-fiber prosthetic blades that he used to race.

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Persons: Oscar Pistorius, Pistorius’s, Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius Organizations: of Correctional Services, Atteridgeville Correctional Center Locations: South Africa, Africa’s, Pretoria