A Ukrainian athlete has been disqualified from the Winter Olympics over his insistence on carrying a helmet honoring individuals killed in his nation’s warfare with Russia.
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The Worldwide Olympic Committee stated in an announcement early Thursday that skeleton racer Vladylsav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian flag bearer, was “not allowed to take part at Milano Cortina 2026 after refusing to stick to the IOC athlete expression pointers.”
The choice was introduced shortly earlier than Heraskevych was as a consequence of compete within the males’s skeleton competitors, through which he was thought of a respectable medal contender.
“That is worth of our dignity,” he stated in a submit on X. Heraskevych indicated he would enchantment the choice to the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport.
Kyiv labeled his disqualification a “second of disgrace” for the IOC.
The IOC made clear earlier this week that it felt his “helmet of remembrance” — that includes footage of Ukrainian athletes killed in the course of the warfare — contravened guidelines prohibiting any type of political assertion by opponents.
Heraskevych, who was been backed by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has insisted the helmet does no such factor and wore it all through coaching runs.
“Having been given one closing alternative, skeleton pilot Vladylsav Heraskevych from Ukraine won’t be able to start out his race on the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Video games this morning,” the IOC stated Thursday.
The choice was taken, the IOC stated, by a jury of the Worldwide Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.
A number of conferences and exchanges have been held between Heraskevych and IOC officers. However the committee stated the athlete “didn’t think about any type of compromise,” together with after a closing assembly with the committee’s president, Kirsty Coventry, on the sliding heart Thursday.
Coventry, an Olympic champion swimmer, made clear she had wished a distinct final result. “Nobody, nobody — particularly me — is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a strong message,” she advised reporters, with tears rolling down her face as she spoke.
“As you’ve all seen over the previous couple of days, we’ve allowed for Vladyslav to make use of his helmet in coaching,” Coventry stated. “The problem that we face is that we wished to ask or provide you with an answer for simply the sector of play.”
Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Constitution states: “No type of demonstration or political, non secular or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic websites, venues or different areas.”
The IOC insisted it was “very eager for Mr Heraskevych to compete” and provided him a compromise choice of permitting him to put on the helmet throughout coaching and to show it instantly after the competitors, or to put on a black armband to represent nationwide mourning — but it surely drew a line at permitting him to put on the helmet whereas competing.
“The essence of this case shouldn’t be in regards to the message, it’s about the place he wished to specific it,” the IOC stated.
Heraskevych displayed a “No warfare in Ukraine” signal after his closing run on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which the IOC stated didn’t violate its constitution as he was merely calling for peace.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion days after the Video games ended.
Heraskevych stated the photographs on his helmet in Milan characteristic determine skater Dmytro Sharpar, his 2016 Youth Olympic Video games teammate, and boxer Maksym Halinichev amongst others killed in the course of the warfare. A few of them have been Olympians.
“I’d say (it’s) painful that it actually appears like discrimination as a result of many athletes already have been expressing themselves. … They didn’t face the identical issues. So, immediately, simply the Ukrainian athlete on this Olympic Video games can be disqualified for the helmet,” Heraskevych stated Thursday.
He has additionally been vocal in regards to the presence of athletes who previously represented Russia and Belarus on the Olympics, questioning their standing and why the IOC has cleared them to compete.
Ukraine’s Olympic Committee stated in an announcement after the ruling Thursday: “Vladislav didn’t begin right now, however he was not alone — all of Ukraine was with him. As a result of when an athlete stands up for reality, honor and reminiscence — that is already a victory.”
The nation’s international minister, Andrii Sybiha, described it as “a second of disgrace.”
“The IOC has banned not the Ukrainian athlete, however its personal status,” he stated in a submit on X.
It’s “Russians who should be banned, not the commemoration of their victims,” Sybiha added.
