Ukrainian Olympian banned over helmet honouring war dead

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision to ban skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Winter Olympics for refusing to ditch a helmet depicting victims of the war with Russia plays “into the hands of aggressors”.

A Ukrainian flagbearer at Milan Cortina’s opening ceremony was disqualified on Thursday, a decision that drew outrage and touched off the biggest crisis of the Games in Italy. Heraskevych appealed his disqualification to the Court of Arbitration for Sport with a hearing flagged for Friday.

Olympic officials had told the Heraskevych, the helmet violated the Games’ prohibition on political speech. Heraskevych, who competes in skeleton, a sledding event, had said this week that he planned to race with it anyway.

Moments before the competition Thursday morning, Heraskevych held talks at the track in with the president of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry.

The meeting ended with Heraskevych barred from competing and Coventry and the athlete’s father Mykhailo both in tears after a failure to reach a compromise.

“I felt that it was really important to come and talk to him face to face,” Coventry said after the meeting.

Heraskevych later posted on X: “This is (the) price of our dignity”, alongside a picture of his helmet.

Mr Zelenskyy praised Heraskevych’s courage and denounced Olympic officials.

“His helmet, bearing the portraits of fallen Ukrainian athletes, is about honor and remembrance,” Zelenskyy wrote. “It is a reminder to the whole world of what Russian aggression is and the cost of fighting for independence.”

“The Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors,”

During a news conference Thursday night at the Ukrainian consulate in Milan, Heraskevych said he had a hearing to appeal the decision Friday. Earlier in the day, Heraskevych insisted he had not broken any rules. “There are things more important than medals,” he said. “I stood up for what I believe in.”

The IOC said that it had no choice but to disqualify Heraskevych in order to preserve what its chief spokesperson, Mark Adams, described as “the sanctity of the field of play.”

In the view of Olympic officials, the athlete’s helmet — featuring portraits of 21 Ukrainian athletes killed in Russian attacks, some of whom Heraskevych said were friends — violated a prohibition against political messages during competitions.

Adams said the IOC had offered concessions to Heraskevych, including allowing him to wear a black armband to honour the fallen athletes and permitting him to bring his helmet into a media zone. The athlete refused those offers.

“It is not about his message, it is not about the message he wanted to give, it is the place. We cannot have athletes having pressure put on them by their political masters,” Adams said.

Heraskevyc, will be allowed to remain at the Olympics.

with AFP