Ukrainian Olympian banned from Winter Games over helmet displaying compatriots killed in Russia’s struggle

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych is out of the Milan Cortina Games after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to make use of a helmet apart from the one which honors athletes killed in Russia’s struggle on his nation.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry was ready for Heraskevych on the high of the monitor when he arrived round 8:15 a.m. Thursday, about 75 minutes earlier than the beginning of the boys’s skeleton race.

They went into a personal space and spoke briefly, and Coventry was unable to alter Heraskevych’s thoughts. The Ukrainian athlete briefly addressed reporters and stated he would enchantment to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“It’s hard to say or put into words. It’s emptiness,” he stated. 

“This is price of our dignity,” he added in a social media publish. 

Coventry spoke with reporters after the assembly with tears rolling down her face.

“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry informed reporters, in accordance with the Reuters information company. “No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory. The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution. I really wanted to see him race. It’s been an emotional morning.”

The IOC added that it made its choice “with regret.”

“Despite multiple exchanges and in-person meetings between the IOC and Mr Heraskevych, the last one this morning with IOC President Kirsty Coventry, he did not consider any form of compromise,” the IOC stated in a press release. “The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete. This is why the IOC sat down with him to look for the most respectful way to address his desire to remember his fellow athletes who have lost their lives following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The essence of this case is not about the message, it is about where he wanted to express it.”

Heraskevych got here to the Olympics with a custom-made helmet displaying the faces of greater than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who have been killed through the struggle, a battle that began shortly after the 2022 Beijing Games ended.

The IOC stated Monday evening that the helmet would not be allowed in competitors, citing a rule in opposition to making political statements on the Olympic subject of play. Heraskevych wore the helmet for coaching Tuesday and Wednesday anyway, figuring out the IOC might finally preserve him from the Olympic race.

“The helmet does not violate any IOC rules,” Heraskevych stated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the IOC choice Thursday, saying on social media that, “Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors. Unfortunately, the (IOC) decision says otherwise,” including that Heraskevych’s helmet was a reminder of Russian aggression.

“No rule has been broken,” he stated.  

The IOC had sided with Heraskevych earlier than. When he displayed a “No war in Ukraine” signal after his fourth and remaining run on the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the IOC stated he was merely calling for peace and didn’t discover him in violation of the Olympic constitution.

“We want him to compete. We really, really want him to have his moment,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams stated Wednesday. “That’s very, very important. We want all athletes to have their moment and that’s the point. We want all our athletes to have a fair and level playing field.”

The first two runs of the race have been Thursday, with the ultimate two runs on Friday evening. Heraskevych was a respectable medal hopeful.

Speaking with CBS News’ Aidan Stretch in Kyiv on Wednesday, Ukrainian artist Iryna Protts, who made Heraskevych’s helmet, stated she can be “very upset” if he wasn’t allowed to put on it.

“This world of mine looks like hypocrisy,” she stated. “A lot of our people have been killed. Our intelligent people have been killed. Our businesspeople have been killed. Our athletes have been killed. And now it’s already the fourth year of the war, and it feels like no one cares. Everyone just looks on, silently.”

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