Olympics | South Africa elects to pass on Oscar Pistorius

After a year of controversy, legal battles and frantic effort, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa will not compete in the Olympic Games next month in Beijing.

Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa who races on two carbon-fiber blades, failed to meet the qualifying standard for the 400 meters in his final attempt earlier this week and, Friday morning, was not selected to join South Africa's 1,600-meter relay squad.

Athletics South Africa said four sprinters had posted faster times, and two were chosen as alternates. According to Pistorius' agent, Peet van Zyl, the sixth-fastest time in South Africa was 46.02 seconds, better than the personal best of 46.25 the 21-year-old Pistorius ran in Lucerne, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

"That's the rules," van Zyl said. "Oscar's the kind of guy who doesn't want one set of rules for him and one set of rules for the others. He knew it was going to be tough, and he gave it his best shot."

In May, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a ban by track and field's world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, saying there was not enough evidence to prove Pistorius' blades, which attach below his knees, gave him an advantage. The CAS said he should be allowed to compete with able-bodied athletes.

The IAAF recommended this week that Pistorius be kept off the South African relay team "for reasons of safety."

Pistorius plans to compete in the Paralympic Games.

Notes

• Shayla Worley broke her right fibula below the knee during warmups for the Olympic selection camp in New Waverly, Texas, essentially ending her chances of making the U.S. women's gymnastics team. She fought back tears as she left the gym, on crutches with her right leg in a black protective boot.

"It's unlikely she'd be able to compete" in Beijing, said Scott Rand, a team physician.

Meanwhile, Chellsie Memmel recovered after getting whiplash during her floor-exercise routine. Memmel skipped vault and uneven bars. She competed on balance beam.

• U.S. sprinter Jeremy Wariner posted the year's world-best time in the 400 meters when he won in 43.86 seconds in the Gaz de France meet in Saint-Denis, France. Fellow American LaShawn Merritt was second in 44.35.

• Beijing's Olympic shutdown begins this weekend, a plan to lift the city's gray shroud of pollution less than three weeks ahead of the Games, which open Aug. 8.

About half of Beijing's 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads, and many polluting factories will be shuttered. Chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent — and dust-spewing construction in the capital will be halted.