Paris 2024 Paralympics | They will give us chills: Oksana Masters

All the meanest and vicious fairies bent over her cradle, as if to ensure that she wouldn't stand a chance in life.

Oksana was born in June 1989, just over 3 years after the Chernobyl disaster in the heart of what was then Soviet Ukraine, without shins, one leg shorter than the other, six fingers partially attached to each hand, a single kidney and a partial stomach. She was abandoned at birth and spent the first years of her life in an orphanage where the staff sold her to the highest bidder between the ages of 5 and 7. Until a ray of light finally shines through: an American speech therapist visits the orphanage, meets Oksana, and wants to adopt her.

Not smooth sailing...

After months of waiting, the girl finally arrived in the USA, and began a new life. A family, love, a school... But it wasn't all smooth sailing: one of her legs is amputated when she turns 9, and the other before 13.

Like most American children and teenagers, she tries out all sorts of sports. The first is rowing, where she progresses so rapidly that she wins a bronze medal in the mixed double sculls event at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

All's well that ends well? Not quite: she injures her back and has to give up rowing. But she immediately takes up cross-country skiing, and competes at the Sochi 2014 Games. “My aim was to achieve honest performances so as not to embarrass myself in front of everyone," she said. She finishes with two medals, silver and bronze.

From summer to winter, the medals keep piling up

She takes up cycling too, and qualifies two years later for the Rio 2016 Games, where she fails to reach the podium twice: 4th in the road race, and 5th in the individual time trial. Five years later in Tokyo, she covers herself in gold in both events. She hasn’t given up on winter sports either, and rightfully so: between Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, 11 more medals - including 4 gold - were added to her trophy cabinet.

Without pressure, she arrives at Paris 2024 as a legend and an example within the American delegation, keeping in mind her Ukrainian compatriots whom she has not forgotten. And the certainty that she has overcome trials and difficulties a thousand times over.

“Every time I'm in pain, lonely or the future looks bleak, I tell myself the same thing: I'm going to get better. And it’s always been the case.”