Oksana Masters, gold in cycling and survivor of Chernobyl

Oksana Masters (Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, 1989) couldn’t hold back tears on the podium this Tuesday. He had won gold in the 24-kilometer time trial, after his diploma five years ago. One more medal – there are now nine in four Games between summer and winter – for one of the most recognized and award-winning Paralympic athletes in the United States. It is an example of versatility. He has tried everything and does everything well: rowing in london (bronze), cross-country skiing in Sochi (silver and bronze), River biking and cross-country skiing and biathlon in PyeongChang (two golds, two silver and one bronze). Today he will ride the road test again and he hopes to repeat himself on the podium, improving that other diploma from the Brazilian event.

Oksana is a born fighter. An example of how we can condition where we are born, but not determine. She did it in Khmelnytskyi, a city located about 400 kilometers from Chernobyl, the scene of one of the largest nuclear disasters in history in 1986. This radiation affected her mother during pregnancy and when Oksana was born, she did so with significant malformations. Without shinbones, with one leg 14 centimeters shorter than the other, five fingers on each hand and six on each foot, and a single kidney. The little girl ended up being abandoned in an orphanage and there life was a real horror movie. To hunger, cold and poverty were added sexual and physical abuse. A three-year nightmare, which he recounted in the documentary ‘Survivor’ (‘Survivor’). This testimony was a denunciation of what thousands of children have suffered like her.

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In those moments, his mind was flying and he dreamed of a family appearing so that everything would end. He waited and arrived. At the age of seven, his life took a radical change. A Kentucky speech therapist named Gay Masters adopted her and gave her a new chance in the United States. Besides his last name. There began a new Oksana. He underwent several operations, such as a hand reconstruction, the amputation of his left leg, his right … The goal was to eliminate pain and make day-to-day more bearable.

Slowly, He exchanged scars for tattoos, as a symbol of power and control over his life and his body. It has stars on the waist, a key on the side, a rose on the hip and initials on the wrist. And sport has made it a symbol. She was awarded in 2020 with the Laureus, sharing the bill with stars such as Leo Messi, Simone Biles and Lewis Hamilton. In addition, it uses its networks as a vehicle for the normalization of disability. Without going further, His TikTok videos, showing his training and his daily life, reach millions of young people.

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