A Conversation with Paralympic Champion Oksana Masters
A blue and teal gradient background with a light blue ribbon banner has a picture of Oksana Masters, an Ukrainian woman on skis who has long blonde hair and both legs amputated, on the left; to the right, navy text reads “A conversation with Paralympic Champion Oksana Masters, Winner of the first U.S. gold of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics by Marie Dagenais-Lewis”. A white Diversability® logo is centered below the light blue ribbon under the text.
By Marie Dagenais-Lewis, Content Manager at Diversability®
Bright and early on a Friday morning, I sat at the table watching the morning light seep through the blinds as I waited for the zoom call to connect. I’m usually never functioning that early, but when Paralympic champion Oksana Masters has time to talk…you make an exception.
If you do a quick google search on her story, you’d see it's one of triumph. Born in Ukraine three years after the Chernobyl disaster, Masters lived with radiation related defects in an Ukrainian orphanage until the age of 7, when Gay Masters adopted her and brought her over to the United States. She eventually underwent several surgeries, including amputation of both her legs. Like a true phoenix rising from the ashes, our conversation didn’t focus on the heartaches of her past. Instead, she shared with me the life changing world of adaptive sport.
She started with adaptive rowing at the age of 13, eventually beginning her Paralympic career at the 2012 Games in London where she won Bronze. Then, she took up cross country skiing, winning Silver and Bronze in 2014 and snagging her first Gold medal in 2018. During that same time, she also took up cycling, placing 4th in Rio 2016 before getting her first Gold at the Summer Games in Tokyo 2020. Most recently, she had the best start to the Winter Games by winning the first Gold medal for the U.S. in Beijing 2022. She hasn’t just won Paralympic medals–this year, it was announced that she was chosen as one of the recipients of P&G Athlete For Good Grants on behalf of Kindness Wins.
When she speaks about adaptive sports, her face lights up with joy as a smile stretches across her face. I could feel her passion, even through the iPad. It was invigorating, like a strong cup of coffee. Adaptive sport was something that was always inaccessible to me due to my own disability, but through our conversation Oksana helped me vicariously understand how kindness and sports combine to empower disability acceptance…
“Sports gave me a healthy outlet to let everything out when I felt like the world just didn’t want to accept and acknowledge people that look different and that there’s value in them.”
Marie Dagenais-Lewis: Hi Oksana! The first question I have is what kind of legacy do you hope Beijing 2022 will leave behind for disability inclusion?
Oksana Masters: That's an amazing and exciting thing when you see a country host Olympic and Paralympic games, especially in the Paralympic side. It brings that awareness of adaptive sports, and not just adaptive sports, but adaptive sports at a high level where they can represent their country and what they're capable of doing. It's exciting to know for people with disabilities that there's an outlet in sports that they can [either] represent at a high level or just do it just to live active lifestyles. And, from a selfish standpoint, I hope more people get into cross country skiing and my sport, but sports in general.
MDL: I read a little bit about your life: how you have lived with disability from a very early age, and you have really gone through so much. How has sport really helped you accept your identity as you are and just unapologetically be yourself?
OM: Well, first of all, sports gave me a healthy outlet to let everything out when I felt like the world just didn't want to accept and acknowledge people that look different and that there's value in them. When I [first] got into it, I was 13 [and] afraid to take my prosthetic leg off to do the sport [rowing]. But it wasn't until I took my leg off and pushed away from the dock where I just felt so free like I belonged somewhere…I think that's the power of sport.
MDL: I love it; I'm assuming that the first push off was like *the* moment? That was when it was like “Oh man…this is it.”?
OM: It totally was. It's really hard to feel that feeling when you look so different; at that time, I had one prosthetic leg and one real leg. It's so hard when you can't hide how different you look. As much as you try to hide it, what I realized when I got older through sport was that I was bringing the wrong attention to myself. I was bringing this really negative energy, instead of showing what I can do without a leg. I [hope] the many athletes and young people faced with the decision to amputate their leg, or life just creates a circumstance where they're all of a sudden in a wheelchair or something, don't think that their life's over or that there's no opportunities. That’s the amazing thing with sport–it doesn't care if you have a prosthetic leg, hearing aid or wheelchair.
MDL: It really sounds like that, for you elevating Disability Pride is making sure that people know of adaptive sport. That people know that there is opportunity. And that really, it's an opportunity that can make self acceptance come in ways that you've never even known from what I'm hearing?
OM: I think it's not just self acceptance, I think that's part of growing and once you are there, then it's helping change society how we view a person with disability or people who look different. For example, if I’m in the checkout line, I'm not going to talk to someone [and say] “oh my gosh, you have blonde hair…how does that make you feel?”. Why would I say something about someone that looks different? It's just about changing that in society as a whole.
MDL: I love that metaphor for it, because that puts it in an easy way that everyone can understand–it's rude to go up to someone and be like, “oh my gosh, why'd you do that to your hair?” so it would be rude to go up to anyone and be like, “oh, my gosh, what happened to you?”.
OM: Right?
MDL: Now, moving towards Kindness Wins, I would love to really learn a little bit more about what Kindness Wins means to you, as someone who has experienced some not so great things from society living life disabled from a very early age?
OM: I think that’s why I’m so close to Kindness Wins foundation…I did experience some not so kind things, but it's because of the kindness I’ve experienced from other people that I've been able to have these opportunities brought to me. I’m just so proud to be able to help give that kindness and share kindness. We were talking about sports a little bit, [well] sports is that platform to share kindness and the ripple effect it has to really influence an outcome, whether it’s with someone with a disability or in general. I’m just really excited to be able to give back and be able to help spread the word how now, more than ever, kind acts have the ability to change the world together.
MDL: They really do, and I think it’s so powerful how you said yeah, you’ve experienced not so great things but what’s really defined you is the kindness and that’s something I hope everyone can take away from this. We tend to get wrapped up in all of the negativity, and all of the things that we are missing out on; but focusing on where we're being included, where there is that positive energy, where we can make a difference…that’s life changing.
OM: That's why being able to Kindness Wins Foundation getting awarded this grant from the Procter and Gamble's Athletes For Good grant. It just made me so happy that we were able to receive this because of that impact moving forward to the communities. We can be able to help increase the word, increase our awareness, and also continue to do what we do. We give away Medal of Kindness awards to recognize people in their communities that are making a difference. Then, also, creating opportunities to create more grants for communities and people who are making that difference for those people who made a difference in my life.
MDL: That is so important, to like to be able to award someone and give them a medal or something that they feel proud of for just being kind, it's more than just kindness. It's like showing that there's value placed on being accepting of everyone. What do you think the difference would have been if something like that existed back when you were growing up?
OM: Oh man, I think it would have helped me see myself in more of a positive light instead of going through this period of “I hate everything”. It also would have helped the community grow too [by] be[ing] able to help–not accept me–but create opportunity for me to be able to be a part of the community. And that's the thing; it doesn't cost you money to be nice to someone and be able to create that ripple effect of change. It just would have been life changing if Kindness Wins Foundation was around [along with] the awareness of kindness. Back then, it was kind of like "oh, if you're really nice to someone, you're ‘soft’” and now, it's like “we are stronger when we support each other!”. I am a champion of Kindness Wins along with incredible athletes, and that's the power the athletes voice have when you support each other. By nature, sports are very competitive but in that competitive field, you see that you can still be kind and support each other. That's something I wish that I had in sports, and life in general, as a kid.
MDL: We’ve been talking about kindness this whole time, but I still haven’t asked–what does kindness mean to you? Like you said, it doesn’t really cost anything to be kind, so what are some ways that we can be kind?
OM: Supporting each other. From an athletic perspective, If I'm a successful athlete and I have a bad race and someone else beats me, then [I] support them and celebrate their successes with them. Celebrate differences. You don't need to make it really known; it's something that should just come genuinely from the heart because you want to help that person. Do what you want to be done to you. [With that said,] with Kindness Wins Foundation we ARE showing acts of kindness [on social media] because we want to promote people to be inspired that it's cool to be kind.
MDL: Is there anything else that you would like to make sure that we talk about?
OM: I really, really strongly encourage everyone to go and follow the Kindness Wins Foundation because I am an athlete, but there are so many other athletes who are also champions of Kindness Wins. That's something that I'm so, so excited for because I know that our organization is one of the ones that was awarded the Procter and Gamble grant to be able to help further our mission but at the same time there is a total of 16 athletes that Procter and Gamble athletes for good program is helping! I got goosebumps. It makes me so excited knowing that a company like that in partnership with the Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee is helping athletes make a change not just on the field, but off the field. It’s exciting to know where the World's going with that.
MDL: It really is! So people could follow @kindnesswins, where can people follow you so they keep up with your story? What games are you excited for?
OM: Um, yeah, so you follow me @OksanaMasters on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, but I am really really excited. The Beijing 2022 Paralympics will be my sixth Paralympic Games. It'll be my third winter one, and for me it's coming full circle because that was the Games that I missed in 2008 [when I] did not make a team, so I’m excited to be able to go back and hopefully win some gold medals for Team USA but more so, support my competitors along the way.