Paralympian Oksana Masters says she represents both the US and Ukraine as she competes in Paris

Oksana Masters defended her Paralympic gold medal on Wednesday in the women’s individual time trial (H4-5 classification). 

On Thursday, she’ll attempt to do the same in the women’s cycling road race (H5 classification). 

Masters said that while she wears Team USA’s red, white, and blue uniform, she represents two countries on the world stage.

“I am so proud to be Ukrainian,” she told The World. 

Masters was born in Ukraine in 1989, three years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. In-utero radiation is believed to have damaged her legs, hands and some of her organs. She was given up for adoption because of her need for extensive medical care.

Masters spent seven years in orphanages before an American woman adopted her. But she has always remembered her roots. And as she’s made her way to the top of the Paralympics podium over the years — she has 18 medals to her name — she’s had Ukraine’s support.

“I am so lucky because I have Team USA but I have Team Ukraine supporting me,” Masters, 35, said. “The Ukrainian Paralympic Committee is constantly supporting [me] — liking, commenting, sending me messages.”

Unlike most Paralympians who go to the Games every four years, Masters gets a chance to win a gold medal every two years. She’s among the few athletes who competes in the Winter and Summer Paralympics.

Her Paralympic career began at the London Games in 2012, where she competed in rowing and earned a bronze medal. She then went on to multiple Winter Games to compete in Nordic skiing, cross country skiing and the biathlon, a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

The Paris Paralympics marks the second time she’s competing in cycling. Masters said she enjoys switching between sports because she “loves being bad at something.”

“Because when you’re starting something new, it’s that excitement, it’s that first-time feel, and I have no idea what I’m doing,” she said. “I feel like I’m learning something about myself when you start all over. It’s a clean slate.”

Throughout her career, Masters has earned 18 Paralympic medals, and competition undoubtedly fuels her. But her source of motivation changed when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.

“It’s no longer just about me chasing a gold medal. I’m on the start line representing Ukraine,” Masters said. 

When she made the podium at the Beijing Paralympics — which took place just days before Russia’s full-scale invasion — she donated her prize money to No Child Forgotten, an organization that “supports forcibly displaced and impoverished families to afford treatment for disabled children” in Ukraine. 

That opportunity is what fuels her now.

“I will be donating my proceeds and my winnings [from the Paris Paralympics] to an organization, just like I did in Beijing. And that, for me, is how I make it mean something more than just lining up,” she said.

Masters said the past two years have made her want to reconnect with her birth family in Ukraine, some of whom have been killed in the war. 

“I’m still trying to find a way to talk about it and not cry,” she said. “Because my dream is to meet my birth family. Whoever I can.”

Through the help of a sports psychologist, Masters said she’s been able to move past many feelings of anger and come to a newfound peace with her past.

“I want to meet [my birth family] and say thank you because now, as an adult, I know they didn’t have the resources to give me what I needed.”