Chernobyl took away her legs, but not her willpower: how a Ukrainian orphan adopted by an American conquers a parasport

Oksana Masters stood on the podium of the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. A hymn sounded, and pride filled her heart. This was not the first medal of an athlete, but she was special. Writes about this with the BBC.

Then Oksana received silver in cross-country skiing, and Ukrainian Lyudmila Pavlenko won gold.

Masters hails from Ukraine. She was born in 1989, three years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Due to radiation, the girl has serious physical disabilities.

In Sochi, Oksana played for the United States, where she grew up. She was adopted and raised by a single mother. Therefore, the arrival in a country bordering its homeland was a special incentive.

“There was a feeling that I had returned to my roots,” says the girl. “It was as if I had received not a silver medal, but a gold medal.”

However, Oksana’s “gold” was ahead. Four years later, two of the five medals she received in Pyeongchang were gold. And in 2020 she will go to Tokyo for her fifth Paralympic Games.

Oksana Masters told reporters the incredible story of her life. It all started in the Ukrainian orphanage, where the girl lived until the age of seven.

Next - from the first person.

My memories are different. Warm and not very warm. I remember sunflower fields. Maybe I was very small then, but they seemed huge. There was also a plum tree. We didn't have enough to eat, so we had to steal plums and collect sunflower seeds.

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Every time I see sunflowers, memories are awakened. What they write about Eastern European orphanages is generally true. I remember well the sharp pain in my stomach from constant hunger.

They refused me immediately after birth. I was born with six toes. All five fingers joined together, but there was no big one at all. There was also knee hemimelia: the joint was bent and did not hold the leg.

There is no biceps on the right arm, and some organs are missing. I have one kidney, and there is no enamel on my teeth. When I came to the United States, I found out that the only thing that can destroy tooth enamel before birth is radiation.

Doctors attributed this to the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. I really was not far from the scene of the accident, where the level of radiation exceeded permissible levels for many years after the explosion.

In the village where we lived, there was also a power station, which often went out of order. Each time the radioactive background increased, a policeman came and ordered to close the windows and not go out.

I recently watched the series “Chernobyl”. I already knew some things. I knew that the authorities were trying to hide the true scale of the disaster. All this is very sad - numerous deaths, destroyed houses, crippled destinies. This part of the country will never be the same again.

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However, I do not want to call myself the result of what happened, something terrible. It makes no sense to focus on this. One must try to see the potential and possibilities even in the worst.

When I was five, the director of the orphanage called me into his office and said: “I want to show you one photo. This is your future mother." I looked at the photo. A woman smiled at me from there - she had warm eyes and a smile.

She had never seen me, she liked my photo. And she decided to adopt me. From then on, every day until she arrived at the orphanage, I constantly asked the director: “Can I see my mother?”

Sometimes, when I behaved badly (and I was a difficult child), the director would say: “You won’t see mom’s photo today. You're a bad girl and you don't listen. That’s why she won’t come to you.” The adoption lasted two years, and I began to believe in it. But her photograph haunted me.

She fought for me for two years. And then she came and saw how I live. It was winter, the batteries in the room froze, and the workers of the orphanage cleared ice from the floor in the hallway.

Oksana Masters's adoptive mother taught at the University of Buffalo, New York. She knew that her daughter’s left leg would have to be amputated. Shortly after moving to the United States, the girl underwent surgery. In 2001, a woman received a new position, and the family moved from Buffalo to Louisville (Kentucky). A year later, Oksana amputated the second leg above the knee.

I did not understand that I was different from the others until I arrived in the USA.

I was diagnosed with stunted growth due to malnutrition. At eight years old, my height was 86 cm and my weight was 16 kg. Average for a three-year-old child in the United States.

Now that I myself am already an adult, I understand how difficult it was for my mother. It was almost impossible for a single woman to adopt or adopt someone. She had to go through an incredible amount of psychological tests. Answer many uncomfortable questions. Why are you alone? What's wrong with you? Where is your husband?

I didn't realize what she had to face before meeting me. This is proof that she is a strong person with a pure heart. Anyone who accepts other people's children into a family is a gift from heaven. But what my mother did is on an even higher level.

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Mom knew that my left leg would have to be amputated - it was 15-17 cm shorter than the right. That was hard. But when I turned 13, the doctors said they couldn’t save my right leg. Therefore, I also had to say goodbye to her.

I couldn't come to terms with this for a very long time. But the pain in my right leg became unbearable, and I said: “Okay, I’m ready, but on one condition - you leave the knee.”

They didn’t deny it, but already on the operating table they said: “We will amputate above the knee.” I was under the influence of anesthesia and understood almost nothing. But I will never forget how I felt when I woke up in the hospital. I tried to get up, but there was no more support in my legs, and I fell on my back. It was really difficult.

I understand that the doctors wanted the best. But honestly, anger and disappointment still do not let me go.

Oksana also underwent several surgeries on both hands. 2002 the girl started rowing. And in 2012, together with Rob Jones, she won bronze at the Paralympic Games. In 2014 in Sochi she competed in cross-country skiing.

The first person to take part in the Paralympics and international competitions was Randy Mills, director of the Rowing Club for Disabled People in Louisville. I do not like to lose, and he noticed it. I just needed to get the necessary sports training in order to reach the appropriate level.

In 2008, I read about the Paralympics and thought: “God, this is wonderful!” It was hard for me to imagine a legless person (like me) representing the USA at this level of competition.

At the 2012 Games in London, I realized: my place is here. Since then, I have completely devoted myself to this.

Before this, Oksana Masters posed in nude style for ESPN magazine.

As a child, my self-esteem was underestimated. It seemed like a real catastrophe if something was wrong with the hairdo, or a pimple appeared on the face on the day the photographer came to school. Not to mention the fact that covering the prostheses of the legs and arms was not easy.

And society puts a label on you, even though you don't consider yourself an invalid.

I would not want the next generation of boys and girls to grow up without an idol, which would become an example for them to follow. Each student had a photograph of basketball player Michael Jordan on the wall.

Why is it considered the norm to decorate walls with someone who was injured in an accident or was born with disabilities?

But I don't like to say that because these are not limited possibilities. This is just a term that society “rewards” those who look different from others.

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I think it's better to see once than hear a hundred times. The more you watch the parade athletes perform, the faster you get used to it. It's nice to watch the Paralympic movement grow.

Oksana Masters won silver and bronze medals at the 2014 Sochi Games, both in cross-country skiing. Four years later, in Pyeongchang, she won gold for the first time. At those Games, together with his partner Aaron Pike, they received four gold medals. Now Masters is preparing to compete in the cycling race at the Tokyo Games. In 2016, she failed to win medals in Rio de Janeiro.

Aaron is a very patient person. I don’t know anyone who could handle my mess. We spend a lot of time together, we can encourage each other in training.

He overtakes me on the descents, but on the climbs I leave him behind and shout: “Ha ha, see you!” We cannot destroy the spirit of competition within ourselves. If you and I sit down to play Monopoly and you win, I don’t envy you!

But it’s good that during training days there is a person nearby like Aaron, especially when you try to find any reason not to train. In it I found my best friend, partner and teammate. He is not just a wonderful boyfriend. He really wants other people to succeed, and he shares this with the team.

In Tokyo, my main goal is to win both events that I compete in (road racing and time trial). I didn't have enough time to prepare for the Rio Games as I was still finishing the ski season and only had a few months to transition.

Tokyo is ahead, so I definitely have something to strive for.

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