Stars and cars: Wild ride to slow lane

All-conquering Oscar Pistorius belongs to a long list of sport stars in flashy cars that sped from hero to zero.

The Pretoria-born athlete is on trial for the Valentine's Day shooting of his sweetheart of two months, Reeva Steenkamp.

Allegedly, Pistorius accidentally shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder in the toilet of his R5-million unit in a gated estate.

In December, Pistorius boasted, according to the Sunday Times, that he had given himself a topless R3.5-million McLaren 12C Spider for last and next Christmas because of his awesome 2012.

Pistorius revealed that he was a petrolhead and had been invited to the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in England, where he saw first-hand how Formula One cars and McLaren road cars, including the 12C Spider, are built.

"I grew up as a petrolhead so to be here is very special. For me, F1 is all about high technology. I could stand and stare at all the different bits of the car forever," he told the newspaper.

The 12C Spider follows hot on the heels of the McLaren F1 that Rowan Atkinson, star of the hilarious Mr Bean and goofy spoof spy Johnny English, loved so much that he waited for it to be rebuilt at a cost of around R10-million.

A replacement would have cost in excess of R50-million. While Mr Bean's written off vehicle has been rebuilt by McLaren, Pistorius's world has come crashing down.

Pistorius faces a lengthy trial but he is not alone in the fast lane. Even rapper Snoop Dogg had his brush with the law. He sang about in the Murder was the Case. "I bought my momma a Benz, and bought my Boo-Boo a Jag. And now I'm rollin in a nine-trizzay El Do-Rad," he sang. Pistorius has had his share of troubles on and off the track. One incident that stands out is the boozy high-speed boat crash on the Vaal Dam that put him in hospital with facial injuries.

As an athlete, the man dubbed Blade Runner, had a need for speed. Off-track, his life was fast and furious, too. As claims emerge - including reports of an SMS his girlfriend received from another man before she died - Pistorius is not alone in problems of the heart.

The story of Jamaican cricketer Leslie Hylton made headlines in 1955. The fast bowler was hanged for the murder of his wife. Apparently she had been romantically linked outside of their marriage and had come clean to Hylton, who shot her seven times in anger. He told the court that he meant to shoot himself but was found guilty of murder and hanged.

Pistorius's actions, which rocked lovers around the world on February 14 will ensure that until the conclusion of his murder trial he will be making headlines not for his running exploits but for the truth about what happened on that fateful night.

Pistorius is not the first sports star to swop the track for the dock. MotorMania surfed the search engines Google and Bing for sports stars in fast cars who fell from grace. The most high-profile in recent times has got to be the case of Orenthal "OJ" Simpson, who famously gave police the run-around in his white Ford Bronco SUV on a California highway after the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goodman in 1994.

Chased by a posse of 20 police cars, Simpson brought the world to a standstill; television coverage of the highway drama disrupted an NBA match.

In an uncanny twist, Simpson was laid low as a child, by rickets, which led to a weakening of the bones, forcing him into braces on both legs for a few years.

The trial of one of America's most famous athletes was one of the first high-profile murder cases shown on television. In the end, the former professional footballer nicknamed "The Juice", was acquitted of the murder of Brown and Goldman but, in a civil case in 1997, judgment went against OJ.

That was not the end of his troubles. In 2008, he was found guilty of a variety of charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He is now behind bars in Nevada.

McLaren man Pistorius's bloody Valentine's shootout has certainly become the story that has gripped fans in the 21st century - pretty much like OJ in his white Ford Branco. Certainly, the parallels between football star and the Paralympian that shocked the world are clear. Simpson was said to have had a violent nature and had apparently abused his wife. In his bail hearing, details emerged of Pistorius's temper and previous threats to "break the legs" of people with whom he disagreed.

Two years ago in Brazil, in another murder case with undertones of the OJ Simpson trial, footballer Bruno Fernandes das Dores de Souza, the captain and goalkeeper of Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo, was a suspect in a murder case involving the disappearance of a model with whom he had an affair while he was married.

Eliza Samudio had a child with him she named Little Bruno. But Eliza disappeared while engulfed in a paternity probe against the footballer. Police are investigating murder but have not found her body. A number of items belonging to Eliza and her little baby were found on Bruno's property.

It is claimed that, with help, he dumped the attractive model in a car and took her to a remote part of Rio before she was killed.

The case gripped international attention when it emerged that Eliza might have been fed to dogs following her death. Bruno has been arrested in connection with Eliza's murder and is in prison awaiting trial.

Not one to subscribe to the adage: "do the crime, do the time", Bruno, it is believed, twice tried to commit suicide while behind bars.

Another footballer, a former Bucs star, certainly does not agree with the teachings concerning love thy neighbour in the Bible. Former Orlando Pirates player, Mandla "Metroblitz" Sithole, did not heed the message and was given a 10-year jail sentence in 2009 for murdering his neighbour over a R100 loan, according to a report in the Sowetan.

Magistrate John Baloyi said Sithole murdered Thulani Ndlovu, 31, despite his plea to the soccer player not to hurt him. "He pleaded 'Ta Mindlo, please don't do that', but the accused went on and stabbed him," Baloyi said.

Ndlovu was killed on May 24 2009 after he told Sithole he did not have the R100 he owed him. "The stabbing can't be an accident because the deceased was walking away. The deceased was in the prime of his life when he was killed for nothing. What is R100 to take away someone else's life?" asked Baloyi.

Swimming champion Bruce Kimball won a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics but his world - and that of the families whose children were cruelly taken away from them - fell apart in 1988, two weeks before the US Olympic Diving trials.

Kimball was under the influence of alcohol behind the wheel of a car. His drunken driving resulted in an accident that led to the deaths of two boys and injuries to four others. He was jailed for 17 years but served only five. Kimball is now a high school teacher and a swimming and diving coach. Justice must seem bittersweet for the families of the dead boys?

Just as with Kimball, Esteban De Jesus showed that prison might not necessarily mean the end for a sportsman whose life had taken a direction far different from what one imagined.

De Jesus, a boxer, held the WBC Lightweight Championship title from 1976 to 1978. In 1981, De Jesus killed a 17-year-old over a traffic dispute in Puerto Rico. He went to prison where he played baseball, became a preacher and got Aids. At 37, De Jesus received a pardon and was released. He died a month later. Rough justice?

Former Olympic boxer and World Kickboxing Association middleweight champion Evangelos Goussis is serving a life-term in Australia for his role in two murders. Goussis was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR to a family of Greek immigrants.

Goussis arrived in Melbourne, Australia at the age of eight. After leaving school, he held various jobs: apprentice motor mechanic, fitness consultant and nightclub bouncer. He is regarded among the greats of Greek kick boxers. In 2009, Goussis was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years without parole. The one-time trainee mechanic's links to the underworld put the brakes on a promising career. Away from the sports field, Discovery series reality television star and motorcycle gang member Robert "Sandman" Johnston is regarded by some as a good sport. However, he is now facing a charge of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a man during a burglary in December.

One of the stars of the series The Devil's Ride, which airs locally on DStv, Johnston is facing counts of attempted murder, burglary, making criminal threats, reckless driving and several infringements relating to his vehicle.

Johnston has been a member of the motorcycle gang, the Laffing Devils, for two years.

The Discovery series is about the gang's "trials, tribulations and good times".

One wonders whether the Discovery Channel will now film Johnston's trials behind bars or dump him, like sponsors who have moved fast to put distance between themselves and Pistorius?

Even McLaren, which was once happy to show him behind the wheel of the McLaren 12C Spider, has edited the Blade Runner article from its website.

Ironically, during his time on track, Pistorius was driven by thousands of screaming fans. However, after his Valentine's tragedy he was driven to court alone in a police van. Love can be so cruel, how fast the mighty fall?