So here is the question... Do we celebrate Oksana Baiul the Olympic champion or do we make fun of Oksana Baiul the alcoholic?

The year is 1994, and everyone in America is obsessed with a real-life soap opera of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. And when Nancy, America's darling, skates to what most assume will be a winning performance, she is upstaged by some troll-like pixie from the Ukraine, Oksana Baiul. And we have our Jewish gold medalist. Only she wasn't aware of the Jewish part yet.

The year is 1997, and Oksana has traded Ukraine for Connecticut. Just twenty years old and only three years removed from her triumph, she crashes her car and gets charged with DWI. And we have our Jewish alcoholic. Only she wasn't aware of the Jewish part yet.

But as she later found out, Oksana is indeed partly Jewish. Well, it could have been worse. We could have been stuck with Tonya Harding.

Verdict: Barely a Jew.

February 6, 2007