Oksana Masters
Photo Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Twenty-four Paralympic medals. Thirteen golds. Four sports. Oksana Masters has built one of the most extraordinary careers in Paralympic history.
But no number can fully capture what it took to get there. Born in Ukraine with radiation-induced birth defects linked to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Oksana spent her first seven and a half years in an orphanage. After being adopted and moving to the United States, she underwent reconstructive surgeries for her hands and the amputation of both legs above the knee.
Her path to becoming one of the world’s most accomplished athletes began with rowing, a sport she discovered as a teenager that would eventually take her to her first Paralympic Games.
When injury threatened her rowing career, Oksana refused to let it end her journey in sport. She adapted. She reinvented herself. And she kept competing.
Different sports. Different challenges. The same drive to keep moving forward. And in 2026, Oksana made history once more, winning four gold medals and a bronze in Milan Cortina.
But some of her most meaningful impact will never appear in a medal count. Through Sisters in Sports and her work to expand access to adaptive equipment, Oksana is helping more athletes with disabilities discover their own possibilities through sport.
Oksana knows what it means to have the world place limits on what your body can do. Her response has been a lifetime of proving otherwise. And through every setback, comeback and reinvention, she has inspired others to see possibilities where the world too often sees limits.
For a lifetime of extraordinary courage, in sport and beyond, the Women’s Sports Foundation honors Oksana Masters with the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award.