The decision to disqualify skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Winter Olympics for refusing to remove a helmet that featured victims of the conflict with Russia, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, plays “into the hands of aggressors,” he stated Thursday.
The Olympic charter prohibits political gestures during competition.
Heraskevych was accused by the International Olympic Committee of “not adhering to the IOC athlete expression guidelines.”
During his performance at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, the athlete had vowed to keep wearing the headpiece, which features images of Ukrainian athletes who have been slain since Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine in 2022.
In a statement, the IOC stated that the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) panel made the judgment because the helmet he planned to use did not comply with the regulations.
Along with a photo of his helmet, a defiant Heraskevych wrote on X, “This is (the) price of our dignity.”
The IOC was targeted by Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president said on social media, “The Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors.”
“We are pleased with Vladyslav and his accomplishments. Courage is more valuable than a medal.
The IOC had announced on Tuesday that it would authorize Heraskevych to wear a simple black armband, and athletes are allowed to voice their opinions in news conferences and on social media.
He was also denied permission to bring his helmet into the mixed zone, where athletes speak with reporters following a race.
According to the IOC statement released on Thursday, “Mr. Heraskevych was able to display his helmet in all training runs.” “The IOC also gave him the choice to show it while passing through the mixed zone right after the competition.”
Although CAS informed AFP that it had not heard from Heraskevych, he still has the option to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry made a last-ditch effort to convince Heraskevych to reconsider his mind before his competition began by meeting with him early on Thursday.
Video footage shows Coventry, a former swimming gold champion at the Olympics, crying after the meeting.
She remarked, “I was speaking to him in that room as an athlete, not as a president.”
“These regulations are in place to try to be fair and to try to do both things correctly — to allow athletes to express themselves while also ensuring their safety.”
At the Cortina Sliding Centre, a passionate Heraskevych, who is permitted to attend the Games even though he is not competing, told reporters that he thought his disqualification was “totally wrong.”
“Especially considering that we have already seen instances during this Olympic Games where athletes in nearly identical circumstances received different treatment and received no sanctions,” he stated.
“I think this situation also supports Russian propaganda, and I have really negative thoughts,” he continued.
“I think we should honor people who sacrificed their lives,” Heraskevych added, adding that Ukrainians were being “killed for nothing” in the conflict.
Olympic officials “dearly wanted him to compete,” according to IOC spokesman Mark Adams during a press conference in Milan.
He went on to say, “It would have sent a very powerful message.” “The location is more important than his message or the point he was trying to make. We cannot allow athletes to be under pressure from their political bosses.
At the skeleton venue, Ukrainian spectators voiced their displeasure with the IOC’s ruling.
“These people that he showed in his helmet are real people who died because of the Russian invasion,” claimed Kyiv resident Irina Nalivayko.
We’re still chilly, the conflict is still ongoing, and we still don’t have power. The fact that people are still dying is not good. It’s not acceptable.
Days before Russia invaded its neighbor, Heraskevych held a sign at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing that stated, “No War in Ukraine.”
Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been murdered, entire towns have been destroyed, and millions have been forced to escape their homes due to the conflict’s tremendous tsunami of destruction.
