Olympic 400 metres champion Jeremy Wariner has backed Oscar Pistorious in his bid to compete at next year's Olympic Games.

Pistorious - a double amputee who runs on carbon fibre blades - is currently having his case evaluated by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The IAAF is aiming to discover whether the 20-year-old - labelled 'Blade Runner' - receives mechanical assistance and this weekend will evaluate his performances at two of its international meetings.

Pistorious races over 400m in Friday night's IAAF Golden League meeting in Rome and then on Sunday at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Sheffield.

The South African will have a relatively easy start to his campaign in the Olympic Stadium where he faces some some top Italians.

But in Yorkshire, Pistorious will line up against some of the world's leading one-lap runners - led by Wariner who is already in sensational form this summer.

There have been suggestions his appearance is a stunt, but Wariner is adamant he respects his rival's decision to throw himself in at the deep end and compete against able-bodied athletes.

The American said: "It's great that he is taking the advantage of the opportunity to race against us and I really wish him well.

"I hope it improves his chances of making next year's Olympic Games."

Wariner's opinion is echoed in Rome by Sanya Richards and several other world class performers.

Richards said: "I think it's ridiculous for anyone of us to think he has an advantage.

"It's all right for him to compete and I want to encourage him to run some fast times."

Pistorious' showing will be closely watched at the the third Golden League meeting of the season, particularly if he should under-perform against his Italian rivals as in Sheffield he will race against Wariner, who holds an advantage of three seconds on personal bests.

While Pistorious enters new territory, there will be only one Briton - Michael Rimmer in the 800m - taking part in Rome after Phillips Idowu pulled out of the triple jump.