Singleton will be a strong contender in London and will hope to repeat his 100 metres victory over South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius in Christchurch earlier this year at the IPC World Championships.

Despite being born without a fibula Singleton is currently the fastest amputee on the planet and has now been fitted with a new prosthetic leg in Honea Path in South Carolina.

The socket in the leg is lighter and stronger than the previous prosthetics Singleton has used according to Frank Friddle, whose company created the artificial limb.

"We needed to combine the technologies to give these athletes the best competitive advantage we can," Friddle said.


Singleton, who has said he would like to study biomechanics after his career, says that it is his competitiveness and spirit that has given him his edge in the sport.

"[My family] expected us to play sports," he said.

"They expected us to succeed.

"I was blessed to be in a situation where my family was there with me at every game from elementary school through high school.

"You have to be accountable for your own success.

"You have to make your own dream happen," he says, before adding the caveat that you should always have a back-up plan.

For Singleton that is education: "I could pull a hamstring tomorrow and be out of competition.

"But I have my education to fall back on."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
November 2011: World champion Singleton predicts golden era for Paralympic sprinting
October 2011: Jerome Singleton - London 2012 will be special but just watch out for my rivalry with Oscar
September 2011: Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier, Larry Bird had Magic Johnson and now Oscar Pistorius has me says Singleton 
April 2011: Pistorius and Singleton set to resume rivalry as IPC publish athletics programme for 2012
January 2011: Pistorious suffers first 100m defeat for seven years