OSCAR Pistorius brings the curtain down on his Olympic Games preparations tonight in Lignano, Italy, where he will run the 400m.

Twenty-three days from now, he will be lining up for his only event, the men's 4x400m relay, becoming the first amputee to compete at an Olympics.

There had been some debate about which leg of the relay Pistorius would be allowed to run. It was believed that the only role for him would be to start, when the runners keep to their own lanes for the first lap. There had been fears that Pistorius's "blades" - his carbon-fibre prostheses - would endanger rivals once the race goes beyond lap one and runners head for the inside of the track.

That would also be compounded by the changeovers, which can be a rough business. These fears were raised by Lamine Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations. But the IAAF said it has no problem which of the four legs he runs.

Athletics SA is likely to leave the decision to the relay team itself and the coaches.