Oksana Masters on legacy and learning to find herself
Oksana Masters has seen and been through a lot in her 35 years, from growing up in a Ukrainian orphanage to winning 17 medals at the Paralympic Games for Team USA.
And yet, as she prepares to compete in her seventh Paralympics at Paris 2024, there is still a little bit of apprehension for Masters, who has won medals in Para rowing and Para cycling at the summer editions of the Paralympics and in Para Nordic skiing at the Paralympic Winter Games.
"Probably the most frustrating thing for me is when people compare me to what I've done and what I've been able to overcome," she told the Olympics.com Podcast in an exclusive chat back in April. "The hardest thing leading into Paris is living up to people's expectations…
"[In Tokyo], 100 days out, I ended up having surgery to remove that (a tumour in her leg) and a bone graft and I wasn't able to go out training… and then in Tokyo, through that I somehow got two gold medals.
"What's hard is living up to the expectations of being at the bottom [yet] coming out better than anyone expected. And in Paris, that's why all this pressure is put on."
How Oksana Masters learned to love and accept herself
Masters' story has been told many times by now, so much so she is a well-known face among U.S. Paralympic sports fans. She grew up in Ukraine with inherited impairments caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and was left at an orphanage.
"There's really three times I really say my life was saved in my lifetime," Masters, who was adopted and brought to the United States at eight years old, said on the podcast. "My mom saved my life, literally, from Ukraine because they told her I wasn't supposed to live past 10 years old.
"And then she saved it again by introducing the world of sports to me. And sport was really that third thing that really saved my life, because that's really where I started to learn the journey and on that path of loving myself, accepting myself."
But sport wasn't something Masters ever saw herself doing. "I had no idea I could be an athlete. I had no idea I could be a Paralympian because that was just not visible to me or ever talked about.
"And also I'm missing my legs. How on earth can I be an athlete?"
It so happens that Masters' mother encouraged her to take up Para rowing at 13, shortly after she had her second leg amputation (she lost her first leg at nine years old).
"I have never felt more at home to finally have that place where I belong than on that water. That was my step one to really healing and learning myself," Masters recalled.
"I had to go back and fix those wounds and work on these wounds mentally, the things that scars that people cannot see, before the physical scars, my legs, my accessories that people see very obviously.
"Sport was therapy. And I learned to love it that way first versus winning and setting goals and trying to be the best in the world and trying to represent the USA, because I never saw myself as that. I didn't know it was possible to do that, especially for me."
And yet, she has done exactly that, winning seven gold, seven silver, and three bronze medals at her six Paralympic Games in thee different sports.
Oksana Masters' hope for her legacy
Masters' success means she, along with fellow Para Nordic skier (and Para athletics wheelchair racer) Tatyana McFadden, arguably became the faces of the Paralympic movement in the United States.
It's something that Masters doesn't take lightly.
"What means more to me about being seen and recognised as being at the top is that my voice will finally be heard, and that's something I never had as a little girl," she said.
"I think when you're at the top, your voice is heard more and it's seen more. I want to share my voice and share my Paralympic sports, because the sports I compete in, honestly, are very underrepresented in the Paralympics."
That means there's still work to be done, especially with the United States hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.
"When I think about the Games coming to LA in 2028, home Games, I want USA to fill every single female slot there is to fill in across every single sport, not just track and field, not just swimming, not just gymnastics and basketball.
"I guess what excites me about being so fortunate and lucky to have the success I've been able to achieve so far is my voice can hopefully help open that door and make it better for the next generation, and also in general for Paralympic sport in the U.S., and also globally and internationally.
"The bigger picture is making the Paralympic movement growing it and make sure the sport's and the Paralympic movement's better than it was when I got in for the next generation."
Oksana Masters shares why Paris 2024 will be special for her
In Paris, Masters will compete for the third time in Para cycling in the H5 handcycling category, participating in the H4-5 women's time trial and H5 women's road race.
The U.S. star is excited to compete in front of knowledgeable fans with a deep passion for cycling, with France being home to the world's most prestigious road stage race, the Tour de France.
"In France, [cycling] is such a huge sport," she shared of her excitement. "It is a way of life for them, and honestly it's one of those things I'm really excited about.
"Competing on my bike in a country that respects and knows bike racing, and just to feel the streets filled and just being in Paris."
Away from sport, Masters became a published author last year, with her memoirs being released in February 2023.
That process, she said, helped with her healing process too. And it gave her some refreshed perspective, which she wants to share with the world.
"I think when I wrote the book, that's something I learned: my sports journey is the same as, parallel to, my personal journey," Masters said.
"Just live in the moment and see each day and take the things that went well, focus on the things you want to improve and do not limit yourself and never count yourself out.
"You can achieve what you're chasing and what you're dreaming and the goals you're setting for yourself. There's no perfect timeline."