Oksana Baiul

• Born in Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union
• Father: Sergei, deserted family when Oksana was two
• Mother: Marina, French teacher, died in 1991 of ovarian cancer, when Oksana was 13
• Grandparents helped raise her until their deaths in 1987 and 1988

• Stanislav Korytek defected to US weeks after Oksana's mother's funeral
• Galina Zmievskaya became her coach; Oksana lived with her family in Odessa
• After Oksana's car accident, she enlisted Sara Kawahara as her choreographer

Raised in the Ukraine, the country for which she skated at the Olympics, Oksana Baiul lost her father at two when he left, her grandparents (with whom she and her mother lived) before she was ten, and her mother when she was 13.

On March 4, 1994, in the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Oksana Baiul narrowly beat Nancy Kerrigan for the gold in women's figure skating. This was in the wake of the skating scandal when the husband and associates of skater Tonya Harding deliberately injured Kerrigan. Oksana Baiul won despite injuries -- requiring three stitches -- from a collision with another skater the day of her long program.

After the 1994 Olympics, Oksana Baiul moved to the United States where celebrity status, some injuries and a drinking problem led to out-of-control behavior including a car crash on January 12, 1997. She went through a rehab program in 1998 and returned to skating professionally.

• Second place, women's figure skating European Championships, 1993
• First place, women's World Figure Skating Championships, 1993
• Gold Medal for women's figure skating, Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, 1994

• Baiul, Oksana. Secrets of Skating. 1997.
• Nutcracker on Ice 1994. With Oksana Baiul.
• A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story. 1995. Movie, starring Monica Keena.

Oksana Baiul on the Web

• Oksana Baiul Biography
  Baiul's biography from the official Oksana Baiul web site.
• Oksana Baiul Articles
  From the Oksana Baiul official web site, a list of articles about Baiul.
• Oksana Baiul Has Life Back Together, Wants More Gold
  A story about the comeback of Oksana Baiul, from Sports Illustrated, 1998.
• Oksana Baiul Enters Alcohol Rehab
  AP article, 1998, on Baiul's attempt to recover after her 100 mph crash in 1997.
• The Tragic Fall (and Rise) of a Skating Superstar
  About Baiul's win at 16, her literal and figurative crash by age 20, and her return to sobriety and success.

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