Coe welcomes `Blade Runner` Pistorius to London 2012

LONDON (Reuters) - South African 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius will be made welcome at next year's Olympics after achieving the qualifying mark this week, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said on Thursday.

Speaking before a Reuters 'Newsmaker' event, the 1980 and 1984 1,500 metres Olympic gold medallist said he looked forward to the double amputee competing at both the world championships in South Korea next month and the Games in London.

"We absolutely recognise that he is eligible in both and I am guessing he will want to (compete) and that's it. We will welcome him," said Coe, an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president.

Pistorius, who runs with carbon fibre prosthetic running blades after both his lower legs were amputated when he was 11 months old, clocked a 45.07 seconds personal best in the 400 metres at an event in Lignano, Italy, on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old's time was inside both the world championships and Olympic qualifying mark.

The first amputee sprinter to qualify for the world championships, which start in Daegu on Aug. 27, Pistorius has fought a long legal battle with the IAAF over the use of blades.

The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in 2008 that he could compete.

"Those issues were teased out, the Court of Arbitration made their judgement and he's eligible to compete and we will make him very welcome," Coe told Reuters.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by...; For Reuters sports blog Left Field go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/sport)