Oksana "I'm Russian" Baiul on Oprah

TORONTO - Embattled Olympic champion skater Oksana Baiul appeared for 10 minutes on the widely syndicated Chicago-based "Oprah" show on February 7, in her first public appearance since her car accident on January 12.

According to a February 10 report in The Hartford Courant, when asked by host Oprah Winfrey about the evening that led to her January 12 car crash in Connecticut, Ms. Baiul revealed that she had consumed "four or five" Long Island Iced Teas, a potent combination of several liquors, in a bar.

Ms. Winfrey rejoined, "We know what one [such drink] is, and four ... You were drunk."

"Actually, no, I wasn't drunk," Ms. Baiul said.

To Ms. Winfrey's counter, "You had to be drunk if you had four Long Island Iced Teas," the 19-year-old Dnipropetrovsk native replied, "I'm Russian."

All newspapers and newswires surveyed for this report referred to the athlete as Ukrainian.

During the session, taped on the previous day, Ms. Baiul described the accident, saying that she knew she was going too fast (local police estimated she was traveling about 97 mph at the time of the incident) because her passenger, Ararat Zakarian, had warned her to slow down.

She also said Mr. Zakarian pulled her from the car and called for help on her car phone.

Ms. Baiul thanked God that her injuries and the injuries to her passenger were light and that nobody else had been hurt. "I think somebody over there is watching," the figure skater said, gesturing upward.

Prompted by Ms. Winfrey, Ms. Baiul spoke to her fans. "Well, I'm just apologizing in front of them because I've done the wrong thing and I've learned my lesson," she said.

However, according to the Courant's report, the former world champion said she didn't think that fame and fortune had come too quickly to her, saying that she had worked hard for her success.

The "Oprah" interview closed with the athlete's plug for her new book, "Oksana: My Own Story." Ms. Baiul added a message to young audience members: "Work hard, and don't drink and drive, because it's the worst thing."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 1997, No. 7, Vol. LXV

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