Oksana Masters

Oksana Masters (born June 19, 1989) is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete of Ukrainian descent from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She was also a part of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics. She won two Paralympic medals in 2014 and five Paralympic medals in 2018, including two gold. She switched to para-cycling after the 2012 Paralympics and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometres, sitting.

Oksana won the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2020.

Early life
Oksana was born in 1989, in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine, three years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, with several radiation-induced birth defects, including tibial hemimelia which resulted in different leg lengths, missing weight-bearing shinbones in her calves, webbed fingers with no thumbs, and six toes on each foot. She was abandoned by her birth parents, and given to a Ukrainian orphanage; she would continue to transition to two more orphanages until age 7. In the orphanages was frequently beaten, men raped her regularly, sometimes more than once a day, while the women who worked there pretended not to notice.

In the orphanage, Oksana witnessed another orphan girl, her best friend Lainey, be murdered. The children in the orphanage were always on the brink of starvation and malnutrition, so one night Lainey and Oksana sneaked out to get food, but Oksana slipped and hit a chair. Men hearing the noise found Lainey. Oksana managed to hide but heard them hit Lainey six times. Her best friend died as a result of the trauma she received.

After she turned 7, Oksana was adopted by Gay Masters, an unmarried American professor of communication disorders with no biological children.

After moving to the United States in 1997, both of Oksana's legs were eventually amputated above the knee—her left leg at age nine and her right leg at age 14—as they became increasingly painful and unable to support her weight. Oksana also had surgery to modify her innermost fingers on each hand so they could function as thumbs.

When Masters arrived in the U.S., her mother was a professor at the University at Buffalo; she moved to Louisville, Kentucky in 2001 when her mother took a faculty position at the University of Louisville, and graduated from the city's Atherton High School in 2008.

Rowing career
Masters began adaptive rowing in 2002 at age 13, shortly before her right leg was amputated. She continued afterward and began adaptive rowing competitively. In 2010, she competed at the CRASH-B Sprints, setting a world record in the process. She was also the first adaptive sculler to compete in the Indianapolis Rowing Club "Head of the Eagle" regatta, winning the women's open singles event in the process.

In 2011, Masters and teammate Augusto Perez placed second at the Adaptive World Championship trials in West Windsor, New Jersey.

In preparation for the 2012 London Paralympic Games, Masters teamed with Rob Jones, a United States Marine Corps veteran who lost both legs to an IED explosion in Afghanistan. Masters and Jones called themselves "Team Bad Company" and proceeded to win both the Adaptive World Championships Trials and the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta by substantial margins.

On September 2, at the 2012 London Paralympics, Masters and Jones finished third—winning the first-ever United States medal (bronze) in trunk and arms mixed double sculls with a final time of 4:05.56. They finished behind China (gold) and France (silver) while just edging out Great Britain.

Due to a back injury, Masters has given up competitive rowing since winning a bronze medal at the 2012 London Paralympics. She has since taken up para-cycling and cross country skiing.

Cross-country skiing career
Following her medal win in rowing at the 2012 Paralympics, Masters took up cross-country skiing. At the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, she won a silver medal in the 12 km Nordic and a bronze medal in the 5 km Nordic. She also placed fourth and eighth in two biathlon events. Masters sustained a back injury during this time and gave up rowing as a result. She took up cycling as part of the recovery process.

Masters won her first Paralympic gold medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympics in the cross-country skiing women's 1.5 km sprint classical event after experiencing multiple setbacks. She had injured her elbow three weeks prior to the Games and had also withdrawn from a biathlon event the day before after falling during the race. She won five medals total from those Games, three in cross-country and two in biathlon. She won the gold medal in the cross-country skiing's 5 km sitting event and the bronze medal in the cross-country skiing's 12 km sitting event. She won silver medals in the 6 km sitting biathlon event and the 12.5 km sitting biathlon event.

Masters won the silver medal in the women's 6km sitting biathlon event at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships held in Lillehammer, Norway. She also won the bronze medal in the women's 10km sitting biathlon event. In cross-country skiing, she won the gold medal in the women's long-distance sitting event.

Masters won her first Paralympic gold medal in biathlon at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in the 6 km sitting biathlon event.

Masters has twice been nominated for an ESPY for her Nordic skiing in the category of Best Female Athlete with a Disability.

Cycling career
Masters has won two bronze World Cup medals and a bronze medal at the UCI Para-Cycling Worlds. She competed in hand-cycling events in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where she placed 4th in the road race event and 5th in the timed trial. At the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo she finished first in the time trial and the road race, her first Paralympic gold medals at the Summer Games.

Personal life
Masters is in a relationship with American paralympian Aaron Pike.

Media appearances
Masters' life story has been featured in a number of media sources, including Spirit, Southwest Airlines' in-flight magazine and Sports Illustrated. She was also named one of the "11 Hottest Paralympic Athletes" by msn NOW, was named one of ten U.S. athletes to watch by The Guardian, and posed nude for ESPN The Magazine's annual "The Body Issue". Apple featured her in a "Making a difference. One app at a time." video, where she explains how her life changed with iOS apps.

Author

 * The Hard Parts: A Story of Courage and Triumph Hardcover – 21 Feb. 2023.