«It happened right at the start»: at the Paralympics in Paris, an athlete was forced to stick a Ukrainian sticker with a heart

Oksana Masters, photo: Michael Steele

Oksana Masters, an American cyclist of Ukrainian origin, said that the organizers of the 2024 Paralympic Games forced her to paste over the image of the Ukrainian heart.

According to her, it happened right at the start, reports CNN.

“There was nothing in that image, it was just a heart shape. It was difficult for me, because as a person who was born in Ukraine, an American athlete and a citizen of the United States, I feel that I represent the places where I come from,» said Oksana Masters.

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She emphasized that this situation ignited her and added «fuel to the fire».

“Just because someone could hide my sticker, it didn't hide my fire and that desire that I had inside of me. But to be honest, it was just a great source of energy, and instead of being disappointed by it, it just motivated me even more,» the athlete said.

As you know, Oksana Masters is a native of the city of Khmelnytskyi. She was born with developmental disorders of the limbs. Her biological parents gave her up, after which, at the age of seven, Oksana was adopted by the American Gay Masters.

She competes in the H1-5 category (athletes with musculoskeletal disorders/injuries, including spinal cord injuries and cerebral palsy) and has already won two gold medals at the 2024 Paralympics.

Oksana won the race with a separate start and the group race. Earlier, the Masters announced that it would donate part of the prize money from the performance at the 2024 Paralympics to support Ukraine.

We will remind that Serhii Palamarchuk from Mykolaiv became the bronze medalist of the Paralympics in Paris in swimming at a distance of 200 meters in freestyle (class S3).