After Shooting To Fame At 16, Oksana Baiul "Made And Lost All The Money In the World," And Now She's Moving To Vegas For Better Job Opportunities

About a week ago, Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul took to Facebook with an emotional update. Over several posts, she revealed that she was selling her beloved Shreveport mansion — a sprawling 1920s estate she called "the most beautiful home in all of Shreveport."

The listing, priced at just under $1.2 million, comes as Baiul faces divorce, dwindling income, and what she described as the painful realization that "I can't make a living in Louisiana."

In a series of heartfelt posts, she gave fans a virtual tour of the property, pausing by a large stone fountain she joked "can be turned into an ice skating rink when it freezes in the winter." She described the home as a "great location for a Bed and Breakfast for someone in the market to begin a business," and even announced a weekend yard sale — cash only, no early birds — at her address on Fairfield Avenue. Among the items she listed: a vintage sewing machine for $100, a sequin romper for $20, and a size 2 Bergdorf dress for $50.

It was a strangely intimate window into the life of a onetime teenage prodigy who conquered the world stage, made millions from endorsements and television specials, then spent years battling lawsuits, bad contracts, and broken promises. Three decades after becoming Ukraine's first Winter Olympic champion, Oksana Baiul has lived through both the dizzying heights and the humbling lows of fame — a woman who, by her own account, "made all the money in the world and lost all the money in the world."

Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana and Lu Chen in 1994 (Mike Powell/ALLSPORT)

Early Life and Meteoric Rise

Oksana Baiul was born in 1977 in Dnipro, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. Her early childhood was marked by both hardship and raw talent. She began skating at age four, guided by her mother and grandparents after her father abandoned the family. When her mother died of ovarian cancer in 1991, Oksana was just 13 years old and suddenly alone. Her coach, Galina Zmievskaya, took her in, effectively becoming her guardian and pushing her toward elite international competition.

By the age of 15, Baiul's artistry and precision had made her a rising star on the world stage. In 1993, she captured the World Championship title, signaling that she could challenge even the most established skaters. Then came Lillehammer.

Lillehammer

If you were alive in 1994, there's a good chance you remember the drama leading up to the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, like it happened yesterday. This was the Olympics that took place barely one month after Nancy Kerrigan was attacked at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit — a shocking event later traced to the ex-husband and associates of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding. By the time the Games began, the world knew Harding's inner circle was involved, and the tension between the two skaters created a media frenzy unlike anything figure skating had ever seen.

On February 23, 1994, 118 million people tuned in to watch the women's short program. That set an Olympic viewership record that lasted exactly two days. On February 25, 126 million U.S. viewers watched the free skate finale, making it the fourth most-watched television broadcast in American history at that time, behind only two Super Bowls and the finale of M*A*S*H.

Without looking it up, do you remember who took home gold? Was it Nancy or Tanya?

.

.

.

.

.

Trick question! The gold medal went to a 16-year-old phenom from Ukraine named Oksana Baiul. Nancy Kerrigan took silver, and China's Chen Lu won bronze. Tonya Harding, competing under a storm cloud of scandal, finished a distant eighth after a disastrous skate that included stopping mid-performance to plead with judges for a do-over when her skate lace broke. It was an unforgettable, chaotic moment — the culmination of one of the most sensational sports stories of the decade. Baiul's victory, delivered with poise and grace in the middle of that circus, made her an instant global celebrity.

Here is a video of Oksana's Gold Medal performance:

Fame, Fortune, and Financial Missteps

In the days and weeks after Lillehammer, Oksana Baiul became one of the most famous athletes in the world. The orphaned teenager with the delicate artistry and emotional story was irresistible to both sponsors and the media. Endorsement offers poured in from around the globe.

Within months, Baiul had signed an estimated $1.5 million professional contract and turned pro, joining lucrative skating tours like "Champions on Ice" and starring in made-for-TV ice shows including "The Nutcracker on Ice" and "Sleeping Beauty on Ice." She appeared on talk shows, performed in arena spectacles, and was marketed as the "next Katarina Witt" — a graceful, glamorous skater who could draw mainstream audiences.

At her peak in the mid-1990s, Baiul was earning millions of dollars a year from performance fees, sponsorships, and product deals. She even launched her own lines of jewelry, clothing, and greeting cards, and published an autobiography titled "Oksana: My Own Story."

To top it all off, she bought herself a $450,000 home in Simbury, Connecticut.

According to a lawsuit filed in 2014, Oksana earned roughly $57 million in this period. That's the same as earning a bit more than $100 million in today's dollars after adjusting for inflation.

Baiul's sudden wealth collided with inexperience and mismanagement. She was still a teenager when she moved to the United States, spoke limited English, and relied heavily on agents and lawyers to handle her business affairs.

In 1997, she made headlines for a different reason — a drunk driving arrest in Connecticut after crashing her car into a tree. Though she avoided jail time, the incident marked the start of a long, public unraveling. Her skating career lost momentum, her endorsement deals dried up, and she began to clash with former managers and promoters over missing money and unpaid royalties.

In a 2012 lawsuit, Baiul claimed that the William Morris Agency had taken advantage of her when she was a minor and could not read English. She alleged that the agency failed to account for more than $250,000 in income from jewelry, greeting cards, and television specials, and that millions more were mishandled over the years. The following year, she expanded her claims in a separate federal case, accusing a web of former representatives of stealing or concealing the previously-mentioned $57 million she said she had earned from skating tours, television projects, and merchandise. Her lawsuits sought $170 million in damages. Courts ultimately dismissed those cases, calling them "frivolous" and time-barred, but they painted a vivid picture of an athlete who never truly understood where her fortune had gone.

Amazingly, at some point after these lawsuits were filed and dismissed, William Morris did agree to pay Oksana a $9.5 million settlement.

Recent Years

In 2015, Oksana married her business manager, Carlo Farina. They welcomed a daughter that same year. In 2016, the family paid $340,000 for a home in Las Vegas. In 2022, they sold this home for $900,000 and simultaneously paid around $700,000 for an ornate 6,000-square-foot mansion in Shreveport, Louisiana, that dates back a century and sits on over an acre. The move to Shreveport was apparently motivated by the desire to launch a skating academy.

They spent three years painstakingly restoring the five-bedroom estate, which featured seven marble fireplaces, copper gutters, a spiral staircase, and even two custom-built treehouses with a drawbridge. Baiul described the property as "the most beautiful mansion in all of Shreveport" and said she hoped to open a skating school in the city.

But the dream quickly unraveled. In a series of candid Facebook posts in 2025, Baiul revealed she was divorcing Farina and could no longer afford to stay in Louisiana. "I can't make a living in Shreveport. Unfortunately, I can't," she wrote. "I came here to create some things, but they did not come to fruition. I have to go where the ice exists." She listed the house for $1.2 million, describing it as a "great location for a Bed and Breakfast for someone in the market to begin a business."

In videos shared online, Baiul gave followers a tour of the property, pausing by a backyard fountain she joked "can be turned into an ice skating rink when it freezes in the winter." She even announced a weekend yard sale — "cash only, no early birds" — with items ranging from a $5 lamp shade to a $50 Bergdorf Goodman dress. Though the sale was eventually canceled, the posts drew attention for their rawness and vulnerability.

Speaking to local reporters, Baiul admitted her "heart is broken" at the thought of leaving Shreveport but said she was grateful for her time there. Now 47, she splits her time between Louisiana and Las Vegas, where she works within the Vegas Golden Knights organization, helping develop youth skating programs.

"I've made all of the money in the world, lost all of the money in the world," she told KSLA. "I've been married, now I'm divorced. But if you fall down on the ice, can you imagine how many times I had to fall down and get up?"

After thirty years in the public eye, Oksana Baiul's life has come full circle — from a lonely child in Ukraine to a teenage champion, a multimillionaire star, and now a woman rebuilding her life from scratch. Her story remains one of the most dramatic financial and personal arcs in sports history: a reminder that Olympic glory can open every door, but fame and fortune rarely stay frozen forever.