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'Queen of Ice' Oksana Baiul Leads Move to Rescue Threatened Ukraine Athletes

1994 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Oksana Baiul attends Las Vegas Ukraine rally for peace. (Brett Forrest / SOPA Images/Sipa via AP)

By John GizziSunday, 06 March 2022

Fearing assassination of athletes in Ukraine, the first Ukrainian woman to win a Gold Medal at the winter Olympics is trying to get them out of their embattled country and to the U.S.

"We’ve got to save Ukrainian figure skaters from being killed by the Russians and get them over here,'Oksana Baiul told Newsmax on Sunday.

Newsmax spoke to the skating legend (whose official name has been Baiul-Fiorina since her marriage to oil, gas and energy expert Carlo Fiorina) a day after she addressed a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada supporting her fellow Ukrainians.

The woman known in her homeland as the "Queen of Ice" for her triumph in figure skating at the 1994 Winter Olympics explained to us that she is establishing a fund to bring figure skaters from Ukraine to the U.S.

She has “no doubt whatsoever” many are on a “"blacklist" to be murdered by covert agents of the Russian government.

“I’m not a politician, but I certainly know how Russia operates," said Baiul, who lives in the U.S. but remains in close touch with friends who are under fire in Ukraine. In many cases, the Olympian told us, her friends avoid the assault from Russia by living underground in the metro subway system.

Baiul strongly believes the "blacklist" includes high-profile athletes, entertainers, and President Volodymyr Zelensky and his chief of staff Andriy Yermack.

(It was widely reported in the last week that Zelenskyy survived three assassination attempts orchestrated by killers hired by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Others share Baiul’s belief in the existence of a blacklist of Ukrainians  Putin wants executed—notably Temuri Yakobashvili, Georgia's former ambassador to the U.S. and someone who has dealt with Russia for years, who told us “there was a blacklist of Georgians marked for execution when Russia invaded South Assetia [a province of Georgia] in 2008.  I know because I was on it).

Baiul predicted her fellow Ukrainians "are not going to give up—especially the younger generation, who believe in democracy and are fighting for it."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.