DATELINE NEW YORK: The story of Oksana Baiul (03/16/97)

DATELINE NEW YORK: The story of Oksana Baiul

by Helen Smindak

Ukraine's champion figure skater Oksana Baiul, whom we have been admiring and cheering for years as the epitome of triumph over adversity and, in a sense, a symbol of independent Ukraine, recently asserted she was Russian.

The Olympic gold medal winner, who represented Ukraine at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, made this startling declaration in two public appearances, first on NBC-TV's Oprah Winfrey show on February 6, then at the B. Dalton bookstore on Fifth Avenue, where she made a personal appearance on February 13 to sign copies of her newly published autobiography "Oksana: My Own Story."

In her first public appearance since her drunk-driving accident in January (an incident that received almost as much media publicity as the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding scandal), Ms. Baiul told Ms. Winfrey that she had "four or five Long Island Iced Teas" but was not drunk when she went off the road in her Mercedes-Benz.

Shrugging her shoulders, she said "I'm a Russian," apparently alluding to the commonly held belief that Russians can down large quantities of alcohol without adverse effects. (A Long Island Iced Tea is a concoction of vodka, gin and rum.)

She told Ms. Winfrey she was "embarrassed" by the automobile accident and thankful that she didn't hurt anybody. "I think somebody is over there watching me," she said, casting her eyes upward.

She had two messages to offer young people: work hard, because that will bring you everything you want, and don't drink and drive.

At the book signing at Dalton's, Ms. Baiul told a fan who spoke to her in Ukrainian that she is Russian; she said she was born in Dnipropetrovsk, and insisted she was Russian. (The factory town of Dnipropetrovsk is actually located in eastern Ukraine, but the region has become quite Russified.)

I was among the first to approach her with a copy of the new Random House publication "Oksana: My Own Story," but I did not manage to have a word with her. As Ms. Baiul finished signing her name on an inside photo page in a bold decorative script (to which she added the number 97 and a whimsical "smile" face), I introduced myself as a reporter from The Ukrainian Weekly. Immediately, a Random House public relations officer returned my book, handed me a press kit and ushered me away from the celebrity area, explaining, "There's no time for interviews now; we have a very long line here."

Sporting a short platinum-blonde haircut, Ms. Baiul appeared poised and confident as she sat between two friends (possibly serving as bodyguards) at a large table in a sequestered area of the busy bookstore.

Although reporters were kept at bay, press photographers and TV cameramen were given an opportunity at the beginning of the session to take close-up shots of the skating star as she signed copies of her book and posed for pictures with fans, many of whom brought flowers, greeting cards and stuffed animals.

Attempting to unravel this Ukrainian-Russian dilemma, I contacted the Consulate General of Ukraine and the William Morris Agency in New York, as well as the International Skating Center in Simsbury, Conn., where the skating star trains. Vice-Consul Eugene Korniychuk and Ms. Baiul's agent, Michael Carlisle, responded with the same answer: Oksana Baiul is Ukrainian.

Mr. Carlisle, referring to his client's statement on television, made this announcement: "It was a mistake; she was nervous. She is Ukrainian."

Mr. Korniychuk, speaking by phone from the Consulate General, told me the Baiul family was "definitely" Ukrainian but Ms. Baiul "doesn't consider herself Ukrainian yet."

"She's a Russian-speaking Ukrainian; she grew up under the Communist regime, and she's just a kid," he added in her defense.

The final word came from Bohdan Yaremenko, the Ukrainian vice-consul in charge of communications and public relations in New York, who cleared up the question firmly and decisively when I met with him at the Consulate General a few days later. He told me that Ms. Baiul is a Ukrainian citizen of Russian nationality.

Ms. Baiul, then, was not entirely off base when she said she was Russian. But why come out with a Russian idenfication at this point in her career? Perhaps she has been influenced by Russian friends and colleagues (in a press release issued at the time of the book signing, she said that "a whole group of Russians live in the community where I live; we have a little Russian village here"). Or perhaps this is part of the recent trend in her life to make her own decisions.

Mr. Korniychuk pointed out that the Olympic gold medalist has been "working under the Ukrainian flag" all along and that her manager has said she will continue to appear "for Ukraine." He also noted that Ms. Baiul attended a reception for President Leonid Kravchuk in Manhattan in 1994 and "spoke a few words" at a reception last year celebrating the fifth anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

According to Mr. Korniychuk, Ms. Baiul has both family and business ties to Ukraine; she has a partnership in a beauty salon and a radio station in Kyiv. She takes time to go back to visit friends and family in Ukraine.

The vice-consul contended that the skating star needed time to adjust to her real nationality. "Let Ukraine stand on its own feet, and she will be happy to say she is Ukrainian."

Like Mr. Korniychuk, Ms. Baiul's friends, her agent and a number of journalists and commentators have pointed to teenage instability as a major problem in the skater's life. Jere Longman, commenting on Ms. Baiul's life and career in a New York Times story, cited a series of recent setbacks for the skater - knee and back injuries, a maturing adult body that affects her jumping prowess, "dizzying opportunities" in a new country, and "the willfulness and distractions of being a teenager - all without parental guidance." He said Ms. Baiul could command up to $2 million a year in earnings as a top professional skater.

The New York Times article, headlined "From Rags to Riches, Then What?," related the story of "Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, who riveted the figure-skating world with a story of inspirational triumph over staggering odds" when she won a gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. An orphan at 13, winner of the world title at 15 and an Olympic gold medalist at 16, she took up residence in the United States just as figure skating moved into the financial and athletic stratosphere. Was it all too much too soon, the Times' writer wondered?

Miss Baiul's book, written before the accident, recounts her life story as told to writer Heather Alexander, a former competitive figure skater who has written many books for children about skating. "Oksana: My Own Story" describes Ms. Baiul's life up to 1995, when she moved to Simsbury, Conn., with her coach Galina Zmievskaya (Halyna Zmievska) and took up professional skating so she could have the freedom to skate diversified numbers rather than two routines a year.

Her story begins: "When I was a little girl in Ukraine, Mama asked me if I would skate to the music from her favorite ballet, 'Swan Lake.'" Ms. Baiul goes on to tell a story "that proves how, with love and hard work, fairy tales really can come true ..."

She never knew her father, since he left the family when she was 2 years old. She lost both grandparents by the time she was 10, and her beloved mother died of cancer when she was 13. Skating had become an important part of her life from the age of 4, and she found solace at the ice rink in practice sessions and competitions, living for a time with her coach Stanislav Korytek and his family and then with her stepfather. At 14, fate smiled on her when she attended an annual meeting of the Ukrainian Skating Federation and met Valentine Nicolai, a well-known skating coach, who advised her to move to Odesa to train with him and Ms. Zmievska.

Living in Odesa in a crowded three-room apartment with Ms. Zmievska, her husband, Nicolai, and their daughter Galya [this is how their names are spelled in the book], the young skater followed a grueling schedule as she trained with "the best coach in Ukraine" and with fellow Ukrainian Viktor Petrenko, who had just married Ms. Zmievska's daughter Nina.

Under Ms. Zmievska's guidance, the skater learned how to use her whole body to tell a story and to show emotion, and mastered a special spin that became her trademark - the spin that has her grabbing hold of her left skate behind her head, and curving her upper body into a circle. She won the Ukrainian National Competition, and took a silver medal at the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Two months later, in Prague, Czech Republic, she won the 1993 World Championships - at 15, she was the youngest world champion since Sonja Henie in 1927.

After performing with the Tom Collins Tour of World Figure Skating Champions in the United States in 1993, she returned to Europe to take the silver medal in the 1994 European Championships. Then came the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer and an accidental collision with another skater in a practice session that resulted in a deep gash in her lower leg. Despite the injury and severe pain, she managed to skate an almost-flawless long program and finished a fraction of a point above Ms. Kerrigan to win the gold medal.

She relates in the book, "The Ukrainian national anthem was played for the first time ever at the awards ceremony. I was so proud to have won for my country." Further on, referring to her new life in Simsbury, she says she loves the rolling green countryside of Connecticut because "it reminds me of Ukraine."

"Oksana: My Own Story," published simultaneously by Random House Children's Publishing in New York and Random House of Canada in Toronto, is a 48-page volume with an attractive glossy black cover showing Ms. Baiul in a dramatic skating pose. Featuring never-before seen photos, it is priced at $16.99 in the U.S. and $22 in Canada.

The story, told simply, reveals both the gifted skater and the warm, fun-loving teenager; it appeals to readers of all ages, and to non-skaters as well as skaters. For Ukrainians, the chronicle can be a window looking into the life of a young Ukrainian woman who persevered under difficult circumstances and made her dream come true - she skated to music from her mother's favorite ballet, "Swan Lake," when she won the Olympic gold medal.

Add to the book a postscript of her most recent accomplishments, and one is left awestruck by her achievements. She has participated in two televised skating specials and a second Tom Collins Tour of World Figure Skating Champions, has been a two-time guest at the White House, was the subject of a CBS-TV movie "A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story," and was one of the featured personalities in a Barbara Walters' special, "The 10 Most Fascinating Personalities of 1994." She made the cover of People magazine, posed for an Esquire magazine photo, and has a sportswear clothing line. In almost every instance, she has been presented as "the Ukrainian skating star" or "Oksana Baiul of Ukraine."

One can only hope that this young and talented woman will search her soul, stop drifting and find the strength and courage to return to the structured, disciplined life of skating, to captivate us again with her ethereal, exquisite skating style and to continue to bring honor and glory to the country of her birth, just as she did at the Olympics.

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