Oksana Masters

I can go days without eating if I don't think about food. Your mind, to protect itself, learns not to pay attention to that hunger feeling.

When I first had my legs amputated, it was hard for me to be positive and feel pretty. Many people don't know that someone with a disability can be strong and beautiful and successful as an athlete.

I am so happy I have been able to channel all the things that I went through when I was younger and make them into something positive.

It was honestly like 'Annie.' One day I was alone in a cold, dark Eastern European orphanage, and then the next day I was in an enchanted, mystical land known as Walmart.

I was missing the main weight-bearing bone in both legs. And the left leg, I didn't have a full knee. It was a floating knee. I had six toes. My hands were webbed, and I also have one kidney. I don't have a full bicep on my right side. Thank God my hair didn't get ruined.

In 2013, I had the chance to try cross-country skiing on snow and just fell in love with being in nature and how hard it was to pick up the sport. And the snow is sparkly.

I started doing sports when I was 13 and competitively doing sports - where I was actually training - when I was 17.

Cycling's primarily a pushing motion, and skiing is more pulling, so it kind of balances out the body.

In 2012, I was invited to a ski event called the Hartford Ski Spectacular to learn how to sit-ski for the first time. I loved it, but it was not pretty - I was not good. I didn't know how to stop, so I kept throwing myself on the ground.

Time trialing is one of those things that you've got to train for... Being a new rider, it's still really hard for me to know what's the most efficient gear for me to be in. The road race is probably more exciting, in my opinion, because it's a lot faster pace, and people are constantly attacking.

I definitely went through a period where I don't want to say I hated myself, but I hated what I saw in the mirror. I would try to cover it up, and it wasn't until I started doing sports - until after London 2012 - that I kind of started getting more of that confidence in my body and appreciating my body.

It's hard to understand the athlete's lifestyle. You literally eat, sleep, train. You go to training camps in the winter where there is no Internet, you can't make phone calls.