Baiul, Oksana

▪ 1996

      Displaying a technical mastery and artistic flair far in advance of her age, Ukrainian figure skater Oksana Baiul won gold medals at both the 1993 world figure skating championships in Prague and the 1994 winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, to emerge in 1995 as one of the world's most gifted athletes. The fact that she had competed at the international level for only two seasons, when she was 15 and 16, made her feat even more incredible. Behind her delicate-looking elfin appearance was a fierce determination that was evidenced at the Olympics. After the opening technical segment, Baiul was placed second and needed a remarkable free-skate performance to challenge the leader, U.S. skater Nancy Kerrigan. During a practice session on the eve of the finals, Baiul and a German skater were involved in a collision, in which Baiul bruised her back and received a nasty shin wound that required three stitches. Fortified with two injections of painkillers, she took the ice to the music of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and landed five triple jumps that—combined with her artistic aplomb—helped her capture the gold and the hearts of those who dubbed her "the swan of Odessa."

      Her life was not always likened to a fairy tale. Baiul was born on Nov. 16, 1977, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, then part of the U.S.S.R. After her father's unexplained disappearance, she was raised by her mother, who together with her grandparents gave her emotional support. Baiul's grandfather bought her skates when she was about four so she could exercise to lose weight. Her mother died in 1991 after both grandparents had died, and Baiul was orphaned. Her coach, Stanislav Korytek, briefly gave her shelter until he left for a job in Canada. Skating coach Galina Zmiyvskaya, at the request of her eldest daughter, Nina, took Baiul as a pupil and welcomed the orphan into her cramped, three-room apartment. Baiul was also taken under the wing of countryman Viktor Petrenko, Nina's husband.

      Under Zmiyvskaya's direction, Baiul was transformed into a world-class skater in one year. She finished second to Surya Bonaly of France at both the 1993 and 1994 European championships but finished first at the 1993 world championships and the 1994 Olympics. In 1994 she was unable to defend her world title owing to injury. Subsequently she moved to the U.S. with Zmiyvskaya to live and train in Simsbury, a suburb of Hartford, Conn.

      In 1995 she participated in professional ice shows and competitions and starred in the touring production of Nutcracker on Ice. Olympics enthusiasts were left wondering whether Baiul, who counted teddy bears and Snickers candy bars among her favourite things, would ever return to amateur skating, a possibility open to her under existing rules. (HOWARD BASS)

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