Parenting & Family Quote by Oksana Baiul

Baiul is selling a sport by refusing to sell it as suffering. Coming from an Olympic figure skater whose own story is often framed in extremes (prodigy, pressure, tabloid turbulence), the line is almost pointedly un-dramatic: she’s not talking about medals, discipline, or “paying the price.” She’s talking about kids having fun and getting their heart rate up. That understatement is the strategy.

The intent is outreach, not mythmaking. “I want kids to enjoy skating” reads like a corrective to the way elite athletics can curdle into a joyless pipeline, where childhood becomes pre-professional training. The word “enjoy” is doing a lot of work: it’s a bid to make skating feel welcoming, not gated by money, prestige, or the intimidating culture of early specialization.

Then she pivots to the modern parent’s language: “a great workout.” That’s the cultural context in miniature. In an era when youth sports are justified as résumé-building or health insurance against screen time, she translates artistry into practicality. Skating becomes cross-training with music, balance, and grit baked in - exercise that doesn’t announce itself as exercise. It’s a subtle rebrand: not “be great,” but “feel good.”

Subtext: Baiul is also protecting the sport’s image - and maybe her own legacy - by spotlighting the part that’s hardest to scandalize. Joy and wellness are hard to argue with. For an athlete who’s lived the costs of public expectation, pitching skating as pleasure-first is both generous and quietly defiant.