Oksana Baiul biography
Oksana Baiul, (born November 16, 1977, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, U.S.S.R. [now Ukraine]), Ukrainian determine skater who at age 16 gained the Olympic gold medal for girls’s determine skating on the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Known because the “Swan of Odessa,” Baiul was one of the vital sleek and artistically completed skaters within the historical past of the game.
Baiul overcame private tragedy to change into a champion skater. Her father left her household when she was very younger, and she or he was raised by her mom and her grandparents. Her grandfather purchased Baiul her first pair of skates when she was about age 4 in order that she might put together for a ballet profession. By 1991 each her grandparents had been lifeless and her mom had succumbed to most cancers. For a time, Baiul survived by way of the help of her coach, Stanislav Korytek. When he left for a job in Canada, Baiul moved in together with her new coach, Galina Zmiyvskaya. With the steering and help of Zmiyvskaya and fellow determine skater Viktor Petrenko (1992 World and Olympic gold medalist), Baiul started to flourish. She gained the World Championships in 1993.
At the start of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Baiul’s abilities had been missed amid the controversy surrounding American skater Tonya Harding, who had been implicated in a plot to injure her teammate Nancy Kerrigan. Though Baiul trailed Kerrigan after the quick program, she landed 5 triple jumps within the free-skating efficiency. She displayed mesmerizing artistry and edged Kerrigan by one-tenth of a degree to win the gold medal.
After her Olympic success, Baiul, together with Zmiyvskaya and Petrenko, moved to the United States and commenced an expert profession, a transfer that made her ineligible for future Olympic competitors. She signed profitable efficiency and endorsement contracts, however her skating was hampered by accidents and a late progress spurt, and in 1997 she was arrested on drunken-driving expenses following a single-car accident that left her with a concussion. She entered an alcohol rehabilitation program the following 12 months, and the cost was cleared quickly after. She modified coaches a number of instances in an effort to regain her kind and reestablish her profession. Though she skilled prematurely of the 2000 Olympics, she was unable to regain the nonprofessional standing essential to compete. She continued to skate professionally, nonetheless, and in 2007 she joined the premiere solid of Cold as Ice, a skating musical.