July 20, 2011 -- Updated 1500 GMT (2300 HKT)
The IAAF officially allowed Pistorius to compete with able-bodied athletes in 2008.
(CNN) -- South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius could become the first amputee athlete to compete in the Olympic Games after recording a time of 45.07 seconds for the 400 meters.
The 24-year-old's lap, ran during a meeting in the Italian town of Lignano on Tuesday, is within the Olympic 'A' standard required for a country to enter three athletes in a single event at next year's Games in London.
Pistorius, who was born without fibulae bones in his legs, can also now compete at August's world athletics championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The athlete known as "Blade Runner", due to the prosthetic limbs he uses to run, had already beaten the Olympic 'B' standard time -- a benchmark which must be beaten for nation's to submit one competitor into an event -- during South Africa's Provincial Championships in March.
Blade runner Pistorius makes Olympic 'B' standard time
Pistorius beat his previous personal best of 45.61 secs and was 0.18 secs inside the 'A' standard threshold.
"It feels kind of surreal," Pistorius said on the blogging site Twitter.
"To have an A-qualification time in the bag for next yrs Olympic Games! Thank you all the your support!"
The time ran by the Johannesburg native would have been enough to secure him a fifth place finish in the 400m final at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
The London Olympic Games will begin with the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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