Episode 81: Oksana Masters

Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy

Julie Foudy

Sports

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2022

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Seventeen-time Paralympic medalist Oksana Masters joins Laughter Permitted to share her powerful story of spending her childhood in Ukrainian orphanages before being adopted by her mother, Gay Masters, and moving to the United States. Oksana, who was born with birth defects believed to be caused by radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, talks about being introduced to sports in America and how trying adaptive rowing began her on a path to becoming the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympian of all time. She also discusses competing in the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing while war began in Ukraine and how she found a way to give back to her home country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The laughter permitted podcast is brought to you by Ally. Do it right.
0:04.1	Hola friends! Welcome to laughter permitted. Thanks for hanging with us. I'm Julie Faviti.
0:09.2	She's Lynn Ozawi. Helen! Hey there, Jules. Super stoked. For this podcast, we have
0:16.6	Paralympic Superstar, Aksana Masters. It was such a pleasure to spend time with Aksana.
0:24.0	And another phenomenal and rad human for our dope village to get to know here.
0:29.2	Mm-hmm. Aksana was born in Ukraine and spent the first seven and a half years of her life in
0:35.8	orphanages before being adopted by her American mom, gay masters. She was born with numerous
0:42.4	birth defects caused by radiation, which she talks about in her interview and has undergone
0:47.5	multiple surgeries, including having both of her legs amputated. For Aksana, she was introduced
0:53.8	to sports in America and it became an outlet for her to shine. She now has 17 summer and winter
1:02.1	Paralympic medals. She is meddled in pararrowing and parapsychling at the summer games. And with her
1:07.7	14 winter Paralympic medals in cross-country skiing and biaflon, she is now the most decorated
1:16.4	US winter Paralympic. You all are in for a treat. So get comfortable this sin in. It's Aksana
1:27.6	Masters. As you know, our friends at Ally are deeply committed to improving the landscape
1:33.5	of women's sports. Because Ally knows the positive impact playing sports has. Women who play
1:39.2	sports are more self-confident, perform better in academic settings, and even go further in their
1:44.8	careers. But women sports receive less than 1% of sponsorship investments and only a fraction
1:51.3	of media coverage. Ally decided they would try and flip that script by committing to an equal
1:57.5	media investment in women's and men's sports over the next five years. As fans, we also have the
2:03.8	power to do more than just cheer on our favorite teams. We have the power to show that women's sports
2:09.3	matter. Because when we watch the game, we're not just supporting women on the field, pitch or court,
2:15.2	we're supporting women in the classroom, boardroom, and far beyond. So join the movement and be a part
	...

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