Paralympics 2012 - Oscar Pistorius Powers To 400m Gold

South African Oscar Pistorius provided a fitting finale to the Paralympics track and field competition with gold in the last event, the T44 400m.

The 25-year-old, promoted as the face of the Games, went into the final without an individual gold but won in a new Paralympic record of 46.68 seconds.

He finished almost four seconds ahead of Blake Leeper, with fellow American David Prince taking bronze.

Pistorius also won gold in the 4x400m relay and silver in the 200m.

Defending champion Pistorius was expected to win the race easily, although at the 200m mark it appeared that Brazil's Alan Oliveira, who stunned the South African in the 200m, might just cause another Paralympics shock.

But Pistorius pulled away from his main rival coming into the final, with 20-year-old Oliveira tying up badly in the home straight and passed by the American pair.

"It is very, very special to me," Pistorius said. "It was the last event of my season, the last event of the London 2012 Paralympic Games (at the stadium). It was just so special.

"It was the 11th time I was able to come out on the track and I just wanted to give the crowd something they could appreciate and take home with them.

"I was very nervous before today's race. I was quite tired but the crowd really kept me going.

"For the first time I was actually thinking about something beside my race coming into the home straight.

"I could hear the crowd, which was very weird and so loud. I thought 'let's just finish off on a good note'."