On Valentine’s Day, the world of disability athletics woke up preparing to trumpet the announcement of a dedicated day of Para-sport at the Olympic Stadium on July 28.
The talk was of ‘excitement’ and ‘momentum’ because the world’s Paralympians will not be relegated to the sidelines for another four years.
But that world came crashing down as news of Oscar Pistorius’s arrest and Reeva Steenkamp’s death brought a stunned silence.
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The first thing to state - clearly and unequivocally, not buried in a tasteless PR statement heralding Pistorius as ‘an inspiration to others the world over’ - is that, no matter what went on in that house in Pretoria in the early hours of Thursday morning, Pistorius is not the victim in this atrocity.
His athletics career is over and he looked a broken man in court, but the beautiful girl who lost her life and the grieving family she left behind are the ones who deserve our utmost sympathy and respect.
In this light, the very mention of sport seems crass. But Pistorius the athlete, the Olympian and Paralympian, was the only Pistorius most of us really knew.
It is only in those terms that we can accurately discuss him because anything else is simply guesswork - shocking, horrifying and unimaginable.
Many of us have been quick to dig out our old notebooks and recount the darker sides to his personality that we perhaps encountered but ignored because it felt deeply uncomfortable to criticise someone who does not have any lower legs.
This is a horrible admission, I know, but it’s true.
I think Pistorius knew that too, and it allowed him to get away with the most appalling rudeness by masking it in unfailingly polite terms of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
Glittering: Pistorius won six Paralympic golds with his last two coming at London 2012Exposure: The Paralympic world was preparing to celebrate a dedicated day at the Olympic Stadium in July WHAT THEY SAID
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the Olympic 100m champion, hit out at the scarcity of big-name clashes in men’s sprint events, pointing out that the top women race each other all the time. ‘I definitely think there should be a lot more clashes,’ she said. ‘I think it would get a lot more excitement, as opposed to just the one athlete competing with himself, basically.’
Pistorius the athlete, however, continued to attract universal praise - and rightly so.
You could not argue with his achievements on the track, and the way in which those successes helped to create a Paralympic movement that, at London 2012, finally lived up to its billing as the parallel Games.
Separate, but equal.
Pistorius was a dynamic force in that change; from a movement that forced David Weir to quit his sport in disgust after his experiences in Atlanta in 1996 to a range of disciplines that, in the eyes of many, are simply an alternative form of competitive sport.
Star: Jonnie Peacock lit up the Olympic Stadium with his 100m gold last summer PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEKIf women’s sport is to enjoy true equality we need to move on from patronising fancied teams when they lose. The England women’s cricket team failed to defend the World Cup in India, coming third as Australia triumphed.
Ellyse Perry shone in Sunday's final, taking three wicket in three overs as Australia beat the West Indies by 114 runs.
But the use of the past tense to describe Pistorius the athlete is deliberate: there is little chance of a future for the sprinter now, no matter what events unfold in South Africa.
The outlook for the movement he helped to invigorate, however, looks very different.
That might not have been the case if this awful news had come after the Beijing Games of 2008.
But it can overcome this. There are other stars, other personalities and other performances now.
‘But that’s what Paralympic sport is about, isn’t it?’ said Sophia Warner, British Paralympian and the commercial director of UK Athletics.
‘Overcoming barriers to achieve the incredible.’
We were supposed to be talking on Friday about the London Anniversary Games, a landmark moment for Paralympic athletics, particularly for a woman who has spent the last 17 years ‘competing in front of 80 people’. And that’s what we did.
There was genuine sympathy and respect, but our conversation continued to look forward.
Given the circumstances, it seems the only thing we can do.
...AND THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING THIS WEEK
Watched Tottenham’s Portuguese manager, Andre Villas-Boas, correct an interpreter translating his English words into French ahead of Spurs’ Europa League tie against Lyon. Just brilliant. The interpreter did not look too pleased about it, mind you.
Translating: Andre Villas-Boas corrected an interpreter ahead of Tottenham's clash with LyonNot surprised that an Ofsted report highlighted there is not enough ‘physical’ activity in school PE, while praising the School Sports Partnerships programme the Government saw fit to abolish unceremoniously.
Listened to the world 100m champion Carmelita Jeter talking about herself in the third person ahead of the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham. I love it when athletes do that; purely because such high levels of ego can never fail to amuse.
More... We're on the road to Rio! Meet the seven young British athletes who Sportsmail will follow all the way to the Olympics in 2016 EXCLUSIVE: Pistorius was planning new life in a new home, says former school teacher Pistorius family deny murder charge 'in strongest terms' after Blade Runner has sobbing, shaking breakdown in court