| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Country represented: |  Ukraine |
| Date of birth: | 16 November 1977 |
| Coach: | Nikolai Morozov |
| Former coach: | Galina Zmievskaya |
| Retired: | 1994 |
| Olympic medal record | ||
| Competitor for Ukraine |
||
|---|---|---|
| Figure skating | ||
| Gold | 1994 Lillehammer | Ladies' singles |
Oksana Baiul (Ukrainian: Оксана Баюл) (born 16 November 1977) is a Ukrainian professional figure skater. She is the 1994 Olympic Champion.
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Baiul was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR. Her parents divorced when she was two years old and she was raised by her mother, Marina. Marina died of ovarian cancer when Oksana was thirteen; Oksana had already lost her maternal grandparents and had no other relatives. [1] Her coach looked after her for a while, but when he emigrated to Canada, she was on her own and sleeping on a cot at her hometown ice rink. She was eventually taken in by Galina Zmievskaya, the top-ranked figure-skating coach in Odessa, sharing a small bedroom in her new mentor's crowded three-room apartment with one of the woman's own daughters. Zmievskaya's pupil and son-in-law, Olympic figure-skating champion Viktor Petrenko, helped cover Baiul's expenses.[2]
Baiul won the 1993 World Figure Skating Championship in her first senior competitive season at the age of 15. She then won the gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, defeating Nancy Kerrigan of the United States. Baiul had nearly missed competing in the free skate altogether, having been injured after a collision with Tanja Szewczenko of Germany during a warm-up session following the ladies' short program. She received two Olympic-approved pain-killing injections of anesthetics in her lower back and shoulder which enabled her to perform and complete her free skate.
Despite their status as Olympic champions, Baiul and Viktor Petrenko faced the same difficulties back home in Odessa as their fellow Ukrainians, living in a financially-strapped country where even meat was a luxury and utility outages were a common occurrence. Conditions at their rink in Odessa had deteriorated severely due to the lack of financial support from the government for figure skating since the breakup of the Soviet Union. They had no working ice resurfacer, so coaches and skaters often had to scrape the ice clean with their hands. It was no surprise, then, that Baiul turned professional after the 1994 Winter Olympics, even though she was only 16 years old at the time and had competed in only four major international events (winning the two highest ranked — World Championships and the Olympics - and finishing second in the European Championships in 1993 and 1994). Her coach and surrogate mother, Zmievskaya, negotiated a very profitable contract for her to tour the United States following the Olympics, an opportunity she could only take advantage of as a professional.
Unfortunately, Baiul was soon plagued by physical ailments that affected her skating ability. She required arthroscopic knee surgery in the summer of 1994, after which she was advised by her doctor not to return to the ice for two months. Due to the million-dollar touring contract signed by her coach/manager/surrogate mother, Zmievskaya, Baiul ignored doctor's wishes and was skating again in two weeks; she was performing again in six. This move, along with changes in her maturing body, drastically hindered her jumping ability.
In 1994, Baiul and Petrenko were invited to train at the newly-built International Skating Center of Connecticut in the United States, and Zmievskaya was asked to lead the coaching staff there. The entire "family," including Nina, Petrenko's wife and Zmievskaya's daughter, left Ukraine and moved to the United States to start a new life.[3] Since her retirement from amateur skating, Baiul has continued to skate professionally from time to time, including an engagement with the touring show "Broadway on Ice."
In December 2006, Baiul skated at the Red Square ice rink in Moscow alongside famous champions from Russia, China, France and other countries. In February 2007, she collaborated with renowned ballet dancer Saule Rachmedova to bring together Ice Theatre of New York and couture fashion for the debut of innovative fashion designer Levi Okunov's "Winter Collection." The following month, Baiul appeared on MTV's Total Request Live. She was there to promote the new ice skating film Blades of Glory (2007), starring Will Ferrell.
Baiul has a role in the skating stage musical Cold as Ice. The story surrounds six skaters from Canada, Russia and the United States preparing for their national championships and the Olympics while dealing with demanding coaches, stage mothers and other trials. It is produced and written by former skater Frank D'Agostino.[4]
On Sunday, March 8, 2009, Baiul made a guest appearance at the Kate Wollman Skating Rink at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY as a guest performer at Prospect Park Skating Center's annual show. On Sunday, March 14, 2010, Baiul will again come skate and have a meet & greet with the performers of Prospect Park Skating Center's students after their show. [5]
On Saturday, March 27, 2010 ~ Oksana will be skating at the One Step Closer HIV AIDS figure skating exhibition. Directed and Produced by Tim David, the benefit is for The AIDS Resource Foundation for Children. She will be performing her signature swan lake program and will be part of the meet and greet after the show. [6]
In January 1997, Baiul was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after crashing her car into a tree in Connecticut. The charges were eventually dropped after she met the terms of probation and completed an alcohol education program.[7]
Baiul lived in Richmond, Virginia for several years in the late 1990s before moving to her current residence in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.[8] She ended an engagement to her long-time boyfriend, clothing entrepreneur Gene Sunik, in 2005. She has her own line of clothing and jewelry. In November 2005, Baiul appeared on the Bravo television program Celebrity Poker Showdown. She was also part of the celebrity panel of judges (along with Steve Garvey and Jonny Moseley) on the ABC show Master of Champions, which aired briefly in 2006.
Although Baiul was raised as a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian, her maternal grandmother was a Jew.[9] Partially for this reason, she supports the Tikva Children's Home Charity, which works to aid the Jewish children of Odessa, Ukraine. In addition, Baiul supports and is a member of the International Museum of Women, a world-class cultural and educational institution with the mission to celebrate the lives of women around the world.
| Event | 1989-1990 | 1990-1991 | 1991-1992 | 1992-1993 | 1993-1994 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympics | 1st | ||||
| World Championships | 1st | ||||
| European Championships | 2nd | 2nd | |||
| Ukrainian Championships | 1st | ||||
| Soviet Championships | 12th | 10th | |||
| Skate America | 1st | ||||
| Nations Cup | 4th | 2nd |
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Oksana Baiul (born November 16, 1977 in Dnipropetrovs'k) is a Ukrainian figure skater. She came first at the 1993 world championships and at the 1994 winter olympics.
Baiul's grandfather gave her first skates to her when she was three years old. When her mother died, she became an orphan (had no parents). But she kept skating, and won the world championships when she was only 15 years old. She became famous for her artistic ability when she skated as "the swan" to win the Olympics when she was 16.
She has skated for many professional shows such as Champions on Ice and Stars on Ice. A T.V. movie was made about her - A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story. She now lives in New Jersey. She still skates professionally, and also makes figure skating clothes.
   | OksanaStyle.com - OksanaStyle.com - The Official Website of Oksana Baiul, Olympic Gold Medalist and Figure Skating World Champion |
| | Golden Skate - Interview with Figure Skater Oksana Baiul - Figure Skating News |
| | View Zone - Oksana Baiul - Then & Now |
| | "For Oksana Baiul, a Role Close to Life" - The New York Times > Log In |
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