Oscar Pistorius, track star turned murderer, granted parole

Oscar Pistorius's life story from before and after Valentine's Day 2013 reads like the script to two markedly different films – the first an inspirational sporting biopic and the second a grim tale of murder.

In the first he was the "Blade Runner", the multiple Paralympic gold medallist with carbon-fibre prosthetic legs who also took on the best in the 2012 London Olympics.

In the second he was the man who murdered his 29-year-old girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp - a model and promising law graduate - by shooting her through the door of a bathroom in his Pretoria home.

On Friday, he was back in the spotlight when he was granted parole more than 10 years after the killing and told he would finally get to leave prison on Jan. 5 next year.

Pistorius, who was born without fibulas and had both legs amputated below the knees before his first birthday, was once seen as the embodiment of human triumph over adversity.

The Johannesburg-born athlete was first catapulted on to the world stage in the early 2000s, when he won Paralympic gold in the 200 metres at the Games in Athens.

After his victory, Pistorius set his sights on running against able-bodied athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but was barred from competing in the event by World Athletics - then called the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The ban was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Pistorius failed to qualify for the Olympics, coming within 0.70 seconds of the qualifying standard for the 400 metres in Beijing.

Undeterred, he swept that year's Paralympics, taking home the 100, 200 and 400 metre gold medals, before launching another bid to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.

This time he was successful.

At London in 2012,