What Happened to Oksana Baiul? Inside the Figure Skating Legend’s Life 32 Years After Her Olympic Debut
From winning gold at 16 to navigating heartbreak and healing, the Olympic skater's story is one of resilience and hope
In the realm of female figure skaters, few are as iconic as Oksana Baiul. Not only was she the first Olympic champion from Ukraine to compete under the Ukrainian flag, but she was also on the ice at the same time as Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, putting her front and center in the drama between the two of them in 1994. Below, we look at what Baiul really thinks about former competitors and what she’s doing now, 32 years after her Olympic debut.
Oksana Baiul’s beginnings
Baiul was born on November 16, 1977, in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. She began skating around the age of four after buying her first pair of skates. The sport reportedly kept her sane following her father’s disappearance, the death of her grandparents and the death of her mother, all before the age of 13.
“My mother will never leave me,” Baiul told Time Magazine in 1994. “We’re together. She will always stay in my heart.”
Oksana moved in with her first skating coach, Stanislav Korytek, where she stayed for a year. She then started working with coach Galina Zmievskaya, who moved her to Odesa and introduced her to Olympic gold medalist Viktor Petrenko, who helped fund Baiul’s skating supplies and training.
“We want to be in Odessa. We would never have the money to pay for everything in America. Here our choreographers are free, the best and poorest in the world,” Zmievskaya told Time Magazine.
At age 15, Baiul went on to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague. She won, despite the displaced disks in her back and crooked blades, making her the youngest world champion since 1927.
Oksana Baiul becomes an Olympian
In 1994, Baiul went to the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. She was just 16 at the time and went on to win a gold medal, making her the first athlete from a now independent Ukraine to earn that title. Also competing in that year’s games were Kerrigan and Harding, the latter of whom reportedly took part in a hit out on Kerrigan to try and ruin her chances at winning.
“At the first practice in Lillehammer, I was supposed to be on the ice with Nancy and Tonya. And we got there, and every single media outlet was there. My coaches were like: Let’s go. You do not want to step on the ice and become a part of somebody else’s drama,” Baiul told The New York Times Magazine earlier this year. “After this, my life changed. I became this treasure, I would call it. I had security, doctors and coaches. Bill Clinton is telling the first president of Ukraine, ‘Come to America, and bring Oksana Baiul!’”
Oksana Baiul today
Following the 1994 Games, Baiul continued skating, but not at the Olympics. She eventually got married to Carlo J. Farina in 2012 and welcomed a daughter named Sophia Farina in 2015. They remained together until 2025 and eventually entered into a very aggressive custody battle.
In the end, Carlo got sole custody of their daughter, but Baiul is allowed to see her if Sophia allows it. The decision was made by the court after Baiul and Carlo accused each other of physical abuse towards each other and their daughter.
“As I’m sure anyone who has ever been through a separation or divorce knows, it is a lengthy and often devastating journey,” Baiul wrote on Facebook following the court ruling. “Divorce is hard enough, but when there is a child involved, they must be the priority. As a mother, I ask that you please respect our privacy at this time as we move forward building our new future.”
Baiul now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and works with the NHL team Vegas Golden Knights. She also does philanthropic work for Ukraine and has become an advocate for sobriety, which she became after losing custody of her daughter.
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