I've also read that the past female figure skater and gold medalist Oxsana Baiul's maternal grandmother was Jewish. In an article I read about that, it said she's rediscovering her Jewish roots.
she married a Jewish Russian or Ukranian Jew from rego park
http://english.sem40.ru/jewish_fortune/8444/ While in Dniprotetrovs'k, she asked her father and grandmother if "it was true I have Jewish blood." They assured her that the whispers she had heard as a child were indeed fact.
"My mom's mom was Jewish, so that means my mom was Jewish," says Baiul, noting the matriarchal lineage that traditionally defines a Jew. "That means I am a Jewish person, too."
Her maternal grandmother, a Hungarian Jew, was sent to Siberia during World War II. There she met her future husband.
Baiul's mother, Marina, never told her about her Jewish heritage because "it was very dangerous to name yourself Jewish," says the skater. Marina grew up during the regime of brutal dictator Josef Stalin, who died in 1953.
Even under subsequent Soviet Union leaders, "nobody would say anything besides 'I'm Russian,'" says Baiul. "(My mother) was trying to protect me."
Although she was raised Russian Orthodox, Baiul says she was not shocked to find out about her Jewish roots. Her fiancé, who is half-Jewish, is "pretty much Jewish," she says. "For me, it's a perfect excuse not to put up a Christmas tree."
She and Sunik, who live in New Jersey, celebrated Rosh Hashana this year with apples and honey and gefilte fish.
"It's something new, it's sort of great, I enjoy and like it," she says of her newfound Jewish roots.
She expects she and her husband-to-be will bring up their children with Jewish customs because they are very close to her future in-laws, who live in Queens, New York. "His father is going to bring them up as Jewish babies," she says, laughing. "It's a wonderful culture."
Topic: Jewish guy wins silver medal at olympics (Read 1243 times)