she already has 17 par Olympic medals to her name across four Summer and Winter Games disciplines more than most athletes could even dream of yet Team USA athlete oana Masters says she still has so many things motivating her ahead of the par Olympic games including defending the two par cycling gold medals that she earned in Tokyo sport she tells CNN Sports Cory wire send her on a journey of self-discovery and love born in Ukraine with significant birth defects believed to be linked to the church Noble nuclear disaster six toes Webb fingers no thumbs and legs that were missing weightbearing bones Masters spent the first seven years of her life between orphanages before her American mother gay Masters adopted her after moving to the as Master's legs were amputated at the ages of 9 and 14 since winning her first par Olympic medal in rowing at London 2012 The Talented multi-disciplined athlete has amassed a total of 17 medals seven of them gold in six different editions of the games in rowing CrossCountry skiing biathlon and cycling immersing herself in these sporting disciplines slowly helped her accept herself that was the journey for me to love myself and accept myself and see my body as powerful and strong it was not an overnight Journey she tells CNN Sports really taught me how it was okay to take my legs off in front of people and to still be powerful and feel powerful and use my body in ways and see it in this unique way that I know I feel she said I want people people to see how I feel about it and not let Society just because they don't know it and are uncomfortable about it determine how I feel Masters is as resilient as she is talented after a back injury forced her to retire from rowing following the London paral Olympics she then tried her hand at CrossCountry skiing bagging a silver and bronze at the sooki 2014 Winter Games almost 10 years later her cycling performance in Tokyo where she won two gold medals came less than a year after recovering from leg surgery I came To America with so many scars and the story was written for me and I let them Define me I let those memories be what those memories were but that's not what defines you she adds it's not what you've been through it's what you choose to do and how you move forward and all the things you have done and the scars are just there to remember how strong you are whether it's a scar you got from climbing a tree or whether it's a scar that you didn't ask for it is it's a symbol of power and strength this year Masters will participate in Paras cycling races the 35-year-old athlete said she is always chasing that perfect race where it doesn't matter where I finish on the podium before I know the result I think a lot of athletes are chasing that perfect race and you know it's not about the gold medal that is what makes a perfect race she adds