FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012, file photo, South Africa's gold medalist Oscar Pistorius poses with his medal after winning the men's 400 meters T44 category final during the athletics competition at the 2012 Paralympics, in London. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
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JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Oscar Pistorius' release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest is the latest chapter in the story of the once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics and then killed his girlfriend.
Pistorius left jail late Monday, a day earlier than expected, after serving a year of his sentence. He is expected to be confined to house arrest at his uncle's mansion in the South African capital Pretoria for the next four years.
However, that could all change for the "Blade Runner" when he faces an appeal at the Supreme Court in just two weeks. On Nov. 3, prosecutors will again seek a murder conviction against him for shooting Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. If convicted of murder in that appeal, Pistorius could be sent back to prison for 15 years.
Pistorius, 28, was born with a congenital condition and his legs were amputated below the knee when he was less than a year old. He took up athletics as a teenager with immediate success, breaking records and becoming a Paralympic champion for the first time in 2004, just months after he began running competitively.
He fought athletics authorities and won the right to compete against able-bodied runners on his trademark carbon-fiber blades, and ran at the 2011 world championships and the 2012 London Olympics - the first amputee to do so.
Millions who admired Pistorius as a symbol of triumph over adversity were stunned when it emerged he had fatally shot Steenkamp in his home in Pretoria in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day 2013.
During his dramatic seven-month murder trial last year, which attracted global headlines, Pistorius testified he had mistaken his girlfriend for a dangerous intruder in his home and shot her multiple times through a toilet stall door in a tragic error. He was acquitted of murder and found guilty of culpable homicide - a charge comparable to manslaughter - and sentenced to five years in jail.
Prosecutors said Pistorius had killed the 29-year-old model and law graduate intentionally after a fight and will now ask South Africa's second-highest court to convict the world-famous runner of murder.
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2012 file photo, South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp arrive for an awards ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend, Steenkamp. (Lucky Nxumalo/Citypress via AP, File) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
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FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2013 file photo taken from video provided by VNS24/7 shows the home of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius in a gated housing complex in Pretoria, where he shot and killed his girlfriend. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/VNS24/7-File)
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FILE - In this Thursday, Feb 14, 2013 file photo Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the Boschkop police station, east of Pretoria, South Africa, while in custody after the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at his home. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed Steenkamp. (AP Photo)
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FILE - In this Friday, Feb 15, 2013 file photo Oscar Pistorius, centre, accompanied by his brother Carl, right, is led from the Boschkop police station east of Pretoria, en route to court, for his bail hearing in the murder case of his girlfriend Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home. (AP Photo)
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FILE - In this Thursday 14, 2013 file photo taken through a car window shows workers taking down a billboard of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, bottom left, endorsing a product in Johannesburg, after Pistorius was taken into custody after a 30-year-old woman, Reeva Steenkamp, was shot dead at his home. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Dion Chang-file)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 file photo a mourner holds a funeral program with a portrait of Reeva Steenkamp, the late girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam-file)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 file photo pallbearers carry the coffin of Reeva Steenkamp, the late girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, at her funeral in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend, Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam-file)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Friday, Feb 22, 2013 file photo photographers take photos of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius as he appears at a bail hearing for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe-File)
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FILE - In this Tuesday March 14 2014 file photo Oscar Pistorius appears in the dock on the second day of his trial at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Kim Ludbrook,Pool, File)
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FILE - In this Tuesday March 14 2014 file photo Oscar Pistorius appears in the dock on the second day of his trial at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP Photo/Kim Ludbrook,Pool, File)
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FILE - In this Monday April 7, 2014 file photo, Oscar Pistorius weeps as he listens to evidence by a pathologist in court in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, Pool-File)
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FILE - In this April 14, 2014 file photo South African chief state prosecutor Gerrie Nel gestures as he explains a possible scenario into how Oscar Pistorius might have fired on girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in court in Pretoria, South Africa. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Antoine de Ras, Pool, File)
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FILE - In this Oct. 15 2014 file photo Reeva Steenkamp's father Barry Steenkamp, right, cries as he is comforted by his wife June, left, as they listen to proceedings during the third day of sentencing for Oscar Pistorius at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend Steenkamp (AP Photo/Antoine de Ras, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2014 file photo Oscar Pistorius, center, touches hands with family members as he is led down to the cells of the court in Pretoria, South Africa to serve a five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide by judge Thokozile Masipais for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Herman Verwey, Pool)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2014 file photo Oscar Pistorius, center, arrives outside the court in Pretoria, South Africa, where he will finally learn his fate when judge Thokozile Masipais is expected to announce the Olympic runner's sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Antoine de Ras, Independent Newspapers-File) SOUTH AFRICA OUT
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The house of Oscar Pistorius's uncle stands in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015. A spokeswoman for Oscar Pistorius' family said the athlete is at his uncle's home after being released from jail to move to house arrest. Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic runner, fatally shot his girlfriend in 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Anneliese Burgess, a family spokesperson, reads a statement outside the home of Arnold, the uncle of Oscar Pistorius, in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015. Pistoriusâ release from prison to serve the remainder of a five-year manslaughter sentence under house arrest was the latest chapter in the story of a once-inspiring double-amputee runner who made history at the Olympics, and then killed his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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