Oksana Skaldina took up rhythmic gymnastics in Zaporozhie, where she was coached by Ludmila Kovalik, but still being a little girl she was brought to Albina and Irina Deriugina. At first, nobody seemed to notice small in height Oksana. But everything changed by the new rules of the 1988. Risks were evaluated in the compositions, masterly perfect technique of apparatus work was claimed. It has been Oksana’s cup of tea since her childhood. She was unique in creative work, allowed Irina Deriugina improvise and create routines that were going ahead of the rules that existed at that time. And they managed everything. They managed to impress the audience, judges and coaches. On every competition everybody was expecting something new from Oksana and her coaches.

Already in 1989 in the national team of USSR this not widely gymnast showed herself off during the World Championship. Sarayevo brought her 3 gold medals in the apparatus finals. On the first routine with rope judges put Oksana the score of 9.8. And then after a short discussion of the technical committee of the International Gymnastics Federation about this routine, the judges, having considered the marvelous performance of Skaldina in the final, changed the score and opened the mark of 10 points. Oksana did not receive lower scores in those finals. It was the first and yet the only incident when the judges raised their score on such an important competition as World Championship.

Oksana Skaldina and her teammate Aleksandra Timoshenko were showing genuinely new gymnastics with their work. They were the first to combine several elements in combination. Skaldina was the first to perform such tricks that cannot be repeated nowadays. The innovations that this gymnast brought with her are infinite.

Unlike Sasha Timoshenko, who was ready not to leave the gym, Oksana could work with pauses. “She could miss the training, the whole day or week reading books under the basketball shield, but having returned to the training after such a creative rest, she was again training hard, accurately performing the elements. Nobody could believe that it is possible to make such pauses and not to lose the feeling of apparatus,” – remembers Albina Deriugina.

Oksana was often bored by her routines, she wanted something new. And Irina Deriugina had to change Skaldina’s routines every 5-6 months, had to make corrections.

Skaldina brilliantly won the World Championship in 1991, the Championship of the CIS in 1992. The Olimpic Games were approaching. 3 gymnasts were claiming to 2 Olimpic licenses. 2 votings of the heads of the CIS delegations passed. They chose the gymnasts who will compete on the Olimpic Games. And again 3 gymnasts went to Barcelona. 3^rd voting took place. “If you won’t make the right decision, I am no longer a coach,” – Albina Nikolayevna Deriugina said then. 2 Ukrainian gymnasts were competing from the team of CIS at the end, but how difficult it was to get such a fair decision! Despite a big pressure, Oksana Skaldina coped both physically and mentally. She had less time for the training, she was not invited to enter the floor for a long time...But Oksana coped. Olimpics were her last competition, and a bronze medal was her last reward. A last one, but certainly the most valuable...