Oksana Baiul to get down to studies

Oksana Baiul, a professional figure skater and the first Olympic champion of independent Ukraine who lived for 15 years in the US, is going to return to Ukraine for good. In her words, she has recently busied herself with preparing Ukrainian documents — a Ukrainian passport, high-school graduation certificate, rights to an apartment in Odesa, etc. Apart from this, Baiul applied to the extramural studies department of Drahomanov National Pedagogical University with a goal to obtain a higher education. “I believe,” she explained in an interview to the newspaper Dnepr vecherniy, “that every civilized woman has to have higher education. I am no exception, all the more so that I link my life and carrier with Ukraine. However, first I had to go through 16-year-long sports and pedagogical practice, and now I will master theory at the university.” Baiul is now in Ukraine on the invitation of MP Liudmyla Suprun, who is also president of the Federation of Figure Skating of Ukraine. The federation offered to the former Olympic champion an “interesting project” that involves searching for and educating young figure skaters in Ukraine. “As an advisor to Liudmyla Suprun,” said Baiul, “I will be searching for Olympic-caliber talent in various cities of Ukraine, for now specifically in Kyiv. However, in a matter of a couple of days I am going to Odesa.” In this city Baiul expects to receive support from Mykola Zmievsky, former husband of her trainer Halyna Zmievska. Baiul is also going to cooperate closely with the school of figure skating in the Meteor Sports Palace in Dnipropetrovsk where she made her first achievements in figure skating. She says she has recently met with Minister of Sports and Tourism Ravil Safiullin. “The title of a merited master of sports will be restored to me. I believe that the pay will be according,” she said. However, Baiul has no intention at the moment to discontinue her performances in American programs. Nevertheless, for the first time in many years she is going to mark her birthday, which falls on a November day, in Ukraine.