SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Oksana Masters is the most decorated U.S. Winter Paralympic athlete of all time with 22 medals. At this year's Games in Italy, she has already won more gold medals than most athletes can dream of - three in four events. In the Winter Paralympics, Masters skis in events like cross-country and the biathlon, and she is one of the few select athletes who also compete in the Summer Games, where she's meddled in rowing and cycling. What an underachiever. Masters joins us from Predazzo, Italy. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
OKSANA MASTERS: Hi. So great to be with you guys.
DETROW: I want to start with your win earlier this week in cross-country sprint. It's your 21st medal. And I just see you crossing the finish line and interrupt in just a scream. What were you thinking?
MASTERS: Oh, my gosh. It was that just sweet redemption from - kind of from the race before, for the individual biathlon, where I just missed out on the podium, and then also from Beijing, where it was a silver. And really, last time I won it was in 2018 with a broken elbow. So it was just like, all those memories and moments coming back together and just it felt so good.
DETROW: Yeah, yeah. How have you been feeling in these games? I mean, you've had so much success in the past, but based on that answer, it seems like you were not coasting or taking victory laps in any way. You were very much here to compete in every event.
MASTERS: Yeah, absolutely. I think I really counted myself out in ways that my team never did, and I knew it was going to be a battle from start to finish. I also knew, like, it was going to be really tough because I didn't have the best lead-up into it. So I just really had a lot of doubts to myself. But yeah, that's why I was like, just freaking out 'cause I couldn't believe it actually worked out.
DETROW: Yeah. I mean, you had a pretty tough year, right? You had a bone infection, a concussion, a torn ligament - just, like, a lot of things that could throw off training - and yet you worked through it.
MASTERS: Yeah, it was definitely a lot - a lot of hard resets, forced pauses. But at the same time, I know that - I try to focus on the positives of, my team is going to show up for me and is doing everything they can to have me the best athlete I can be and the best version of myself I can be, and not to waste the energy of stressing and worrying of things that are beyond my control.
DETROW: Yeah. Was there ever even a thought of, maybe I just skip this year's Games?
MASTERS: Not skip. I think for me, what was hard is a question of, can I get my leg healthy enough to race? And I did come to a matter of time of just if I didn't get the treatment and medication and right on track that I needed to within that time that I did, then I know I would - well, it would have been a very different story, and I would not have been here. So it's just - I'm very, very thankful and happy that I am here, but I definitely would not have thought not doing these Games...
DETROW: Yeah.
MASTERS: ...'Cause I believe in showing up with what you have and just seeing what you can do.
DETROW: On that note, I wanted to ask how you think of resilience because just the baseline - cross-country skiing is one of those sports where skiers push themselves to the point of collapse...
MASTERS: Yeah.
DETROW: ...To push through pain, right? So you have that. Then you have the last year you had with all of those medical challenges. All of these different layers where so many people might be like, I'm good, I'm happy with where I am - how do you think about pushing through?
MASTERS: There's so many layers. The LA and Salt Lake City Games are coming for the summer in LA 2028, and then 2034, Salt Lake City, Winter Paralympic Games and Olympic Games are coming. So I want to do everything I can to continue to grow not the awareness of the Paralympic movement but within the U.S. - the United States and America, too, and just let so many athletes and young kids that are watching us compete now know they belong here and they can dream this big. And I also know what it's like to dream of making the Paralympic team and not making the team. I know what it's like to show up and win gold medals, and I know what it's like to show up to a Paralympic Games and walk away empty-handed and disappointed. And I think those are all things I think about and don't take a single start line or a team that I make for granted.
DETROW: I wanted to end with, like, one of my favorite long-running unanswerable debates with friends is, are the Summer or Winter Games better? And you are uniquely positioned here. You've competed in both. Do you want to weigh in on that?
MASTERS: That's not fair. I think in the summer, you definitely have better tan lines. Like, we all have this healthy glow, which is amazing.
DETROW: Yeah.
MASTERS: Winter, it's a little different. But there is, as someone who competes in both Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, I definitely feel and see a huge discrepancy of the media attention, of the awareness and the follow of the athletes. And from the summer is just so much bigger. And it's because there's so many more athletes, so many more sports. But also within the U.S. too, I would just love to see that continue to grow more and be as equal - the Summer Games - as Winter Paralympic Games, and also the Olympic athletes, too. I think they deserve that same.
DETROW: Yeah. That's Paralympian Oksana Masters. Thank you so much. Congratulations, and good luck going forward.
MASTERS: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
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