For over a decade, Oksana Masters and Aaron Pike have been a couple that has become the epitome of “strength together” in Paralympic sport. During their 12-year relationship, the pair shared eight Paralympic Games and amassed an impressive total of 39 world championship medals, building together an outstanding career and a deep bond, both professionally and personally.
At 36, Oksana Masters is the most decorated Paralympic athlete in US history with 19 medals, and her fiance Aaron Pike, a world champion in the Nordic Para, continues to shine at 39.
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Oksana Masters has cemented her status as an American Paralympic sports legend. On March 7, she won gold in the women’s para biathlon, women’s sprint, sitting category, finishing with a time of 21:21.3 without any penalties.
Just a few days away, on March 10, Masters again won the gold medal in the women’s para cross-country skiing sprint event, sitting category, with 3:07.1, and on March 11, she confirmed her excellent form by also winning gold in the 10 km split start event, also in the sitting category, with a time of 26:31.6.
Oksana’s partner, Aaron Pike, achieved solid results in the Nordic Para competitions in both biathlon and cross-country skiing, but failed to win any medals. He is competing in the eighth edition of the Paralympic Games, but so far has not climbed the podium in the events of these games.
The love story between the two started with small gestures
It was 2013, at the Paralympic Nordic Skiing National Championships in Park City, Utah, and both were entering a new stage in their lives and careers after competing in the Paralympic Summer Games in London. At a training camp, Masters observed Pike making coffee with a French press, a small detail that immediately stuck in his mind.
Later, Pike asked him to drive him into town to pick up an order of fresh coffee beans. Technically, he had other transportation options, but he specifically chose to call Oksana, to spend time with her, in an attempt to get to know her better. In the months that followed, the two kept running into each other at practices and competitions, exchanging brief glances and smiles before their connection became fully apparent.
The language of love boils down to coffee
On days when the results are not up to expectations, the couple returns to a ritual that has been part of their relationship since day one: making coffee as a sign of mutual support.
“We support each other making coffee for each other! Coffee is our love language. If I’m having a bad day, he just makes me a coffee, and we don’t have to say anything at that point!”currently recognized the Masters, according to olympics.com.
Special marriage proposal
At the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, fate brought them together again. Masters spotted Pike walking up to the cable car that was taking the athletes up the mountain and approached him without hesitation. They were alone in the cable car for a few minutes, rare and precious moments in the whirlwind of the competition. On the way down, Pike hugged her to celebrate her first winter medal, and in that moment, they both felt something much deeper was about to be born between them.
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Years later, Pike returned to that memory and chose to propose in a mountain cable car, as a tribute to that delicate and beautiful beginning that first brought them together.
Precious moments spent next to each other
Training and competition give them a chance to share their passion for the sport and support each other, turning every moment on the track or trail into a precious moment spent together, even in the midst of their busy schedules.
“I’m so lucky to have my family, my partner, my better half, my calmer half by my side. He helps me stay calm when I’m anxious or thinking too much. Every morning at training camp, we have a lot of fun hanging out together before training. Especially when I beat him on the climbs!”Oksana admitted with a smile, according to the previously cited source.
When an injury kept Oksana Masters out of training and competition, Pike admitted how much she missed having her by his side, not only as a training partner, but also as unconditional support: “Being around her and having that person that I don’t hesitate to open up to, express my feelings or how things are going. Don’t hold back, it’s your person. Having that on the road is hard to measure. We both get it, we both realize it!”Pike explained.
Competitions together come with special challenges
Masters and Pike said the hardest part is pursuing their own goals, but also genuinely enjoying their partner’s successes, finding a balance between personal ambition and supporting the other.
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“The ideal moment is when we both have our best runs together. That’s a challenge I didn’t expect. A lot of people think, ‘Oh, you’ve got someone with you,’ but you want your best times with the person you care about. I care more about his race than mine, and that’s a challenge!”Masters also said.
Remarkable destinies
Oksana Masters was born in 1989 in Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, with severe malformations of the legs and hands, but also with a single kidney, effects associated by specialists with the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
At birth, she was abandoned and taken to an orphanage, where she went through periods of malnutrition and extreme hardship. Later, she was adopted by a woman in the United States, but the medical problems did not end: due to complications, her legs were amputated.
Aaron Pike, her fiance and top Paralympic athlete, also faces his own physical challenges. Pike suffered a leg injury during childhood that affected the functionality of his joints, significantly limiting his mobility. Currently, the athlete is in a wheelchair.
