b. 1977
Oksana Baiul
Figure skater, Olympic champion
When she won the Olympics, the organizers had no recording of Ukraine's anthem, and the medal ceremony had to wait. Oksana Baiul, a figure skater from Dnipro, was world champion at 15 and at 16, in Lillehammer in 1994, won independent Ukraine's first Olympic gold.
Key accomplishments
- Olympic champion in women's singles (Lillehammer, 1994): independent Ukraine's first Olympic gold
- World champion (Prague, 1993)
- European silver medallist in 1993 and 1994; Ukrainian champion twice (1993, 1994)
- Honoured Master of Sport of Ukraine (1994); honorary citizen of Dnipropetrovsk (1994)
The missing anthem
Picture it: the Olympic champion is waiting for her medal, and nothing happens. In February 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway, the organizers had no recording of Ukraine’s national anthem, and the ceremony had to be held up. The head of Ukraine’s figure skating delegation brought a recording over from the Olympic village. That is how 16-year-old Oksana Baiul won independent Ukraine’s first Olympic gold.
From Dnipro to Odesa
Oksana Baiul was born in 1977 in Dnipro (then Dnipropetrovsk) and started skating in 1981, when she was still tiny. At the Soviet championships she never finished higher than tenth. In 1992 she moved to Odesa, where Halyna Zmiievska later became her coach.
World champion at 15
Before the 1993 World Championships in Prague, Baiul crashed into the boards in training and hurt her neck and back. On top of that, her skate blades were crooked, and it was too late to break in a new pair. Skating through the pain on damaged skates, she gave a flawless free program, beat France’s Surya Bonaly and America’s Nancy Kerrigan, and became world champion. She was 15.
One tenth of a point
In practice the day before the free program, Baiul collided with the German skater Tanja Szewczenko. She badly wrenched her back and gashed her shin, a cut that needed three stitches. Before she skated she was given painkilling injections, and she went out on the ice. Near the end of her program she changed it on the fly, added a combination of jumps she hadn’t planned in advance, and beat America’s Nancy Kerrigan by one tenth of a point. Five of the nine judges voted for Baiul.
After the Games she moved to the United States, and for eight years she was a lead skater in ice shows across the US, Canada and France.
Why it matters today
Independent Ukraine’s Olympic story began with Baiul: for her win, the Games had to wait while someone found a recording of Ukraine’s anthem. She won just as the young country was stepping onto the world stage, and showed that Ukraine could beat the best. Anyone who doubts themselves can remember how a 16-year-old from Dnipro skated through the pain and didn’t give up.
