Paris 2024 Paralympics | They will give us chills: Oksana Masters
In the center of what was then Soviet Ukraine, in June 1989, Oksana was born, barely three years after the Chernobyl tragedy. She was born without shins, with one leg shorter than the other, six fingers half linked to each hand, a single kidney, and a partially formed stomach. She was left for dead at birth and lived her early years at an orphanage, where the caregivers sold her for a hefty price when she was between five and seven years old.
- Until at last a glimmer of hope appears: an American speech therapist pays the orphanage a visit, gets to know Oksana, and becomes interested in adopting her.
- The girl ultimately made it to the United States and started a new life there after months of waiting. A school, a family, and love… However, things weren’t always easy:
she loses one leg before becoming 13 and the other before she turns 9.
She tries out a variety of sports, just like the majority of kids and teenagers in America. First, she makes such quick improvement in rowing that won medals in the mixed double sculls at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
What’s good is good in the end? Not exactly; she needs to stop rowing after suffering a back injury. However, she starts cross-country skiing right away and participates in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. “I wanted to perform honestly so I wouldn’t look foolish in front of everyone,” she stated. Silver and bronze medals are her final two finishes.
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Summer turns into winter and the medals keep coming in.
- She also picks up cycling, and two years later she qualifies for the Rio 2016 Olympics, but she finishes off the podium twice, placing fourth in the road race and fifth in the individual time trial. She covers herself in gold in both events in Tokyo five years later.
- She hasn’t given up on winter sports either, and with good reason—between Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, she added 11 more medals to her trophy cabinet, four of which were gold.
- She arrives at Paris 2024 as a legend and an inspiration to the American delegation without being forced to do so, never forgetting her fellow Ukrainians. And the knowledge that she has triumphed against adversity and hardship a thousand times over.
“I tell myself the same thing every time I’m in pain, alone, or the future seems hopeless: I’m going to get better. And things have always been like this.