Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee sprinter, told The Times yesterday that he is confident of winning his appeal against the IAAF after tests on his blades conducted in the United States this week had produced “completely different” results from those that resulted in him being banned in January. Pistorius had ruled out any hope of running in the 400 metres at the Beijing Olympic Games in August but is now aiming to be there.

“We did tests last week in Houston - they redid the tests they did in Germany and the results were completely different,” Pistorius, who has engaged Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, a leading New York City law firm, to fight his case, said. “I am optimistic. I am still hoping I can make the cut-off to qualify for the Olympic Games.”

Pistorius, who would need to shave 0.84sec off his best 400 metres time of 46.34 to qualify, said that the lack of able-bodied competition would make it difficult. “I have until mid-June [to qualify] and haven't had any able-bodied races, so it won't be easy,” he said.

The IAAF banned Pistorius after organising two days of tests run by Professor Peter Bruggemann at the German Sports University in Cologne. Bruggemann found that Pistorius's “Cheetah” blades gave him a “considerable advantage” over able-bodied athletes. But Pistorius says in the Fastest Man On No Legs, a documentary to be broadcast at 9pm this evening on Five, that his exclusion by the IAAF is akin to racism. “It's like being sexist or racist, saying we don't want disabled people in the sport,” he says.