With a rather rough childhood, Oksana Baiul was able to rise above her challenges and was able to become one of the best figure skaters from Ukraine. During her active years, she represented her country and was able to win gold in a number of competitions including the Olympics.

Personal Life

The 5 feet 3 inches star was born on 16th of November 1977 to parents Sergei Baiul and Marina Baiul. At birth she was named Oksana Sergeyevna Baiul. As per her biography, Oksana was born in Dnepropetrovsk in the Soviet Union which is in present day Ukraine. Two years after her birth, Oksana’s parents divorced and she was left to live with her mom and her grandparents from her mother’s side. Her mom, Marina was a French teacher.

As a child, Oksana was interested in ballet but she was unable to make the cut as she was not thin enough. Her grandmother resorted to take Oksana to skating classes and convinced her that it was similar to ballet only on skates. With a supportive family behind her, Baiul started what was to become a great career at age three. When she was 13, Oksana’s mother passed on and by that time her grandparents had also passed on and was left without her immediate family and her coach, Stanislav took her in.

Looking into Oksana’s personal life, she is currently married to Carlo Farina. Carlo was his former manager. She made the announcement of their marriage in 2015. Oksana and her husband to date have no children and they live together in Las Vegas. Prior to her marriage with Carlo, Oksana was engaged to Gene Sinuk in 2004 but the two parted ways a year later.

Career

At age five, Oksana was under the watchful eye of Stanislav Koritek who was a prominent coach in Ukraine. She was later taken in by Galina Zmievskaya and trained with a group of elite skaters in Odessa. Her move to Odessa in 1992 proved substantial and she made progress, winning silver in the European Championships that were held in Helsinki in 1993.

An unfortunate event occurred as she was preparing for the World Championships that were to take place in Prague. Oksana crashed and got injured displacing disks in her neck and back. She still went on to win gold in the free skate competition in the tournament. Oksana was then crowned world champion at age 15. Baiul was also able to win the Olympic championship in 1994. She set the record of becoming the first ever skater to win gold at the Winter Olympics for Ukraine. Oksana was also the first Olympic gold medalist for her country, independent Ukraine in any sport.

With a stellar performance she had during her competitive years, Oksana’s image was used in one of the commemorative stamps in Ukraine. Baiul has a net worth $20 million which she has accumulated from her skating career. She is also the owner of The Oksana Baiul Collection, her own clothing line.