Ukrainian Olympic athlete out of Games over helmet

Ukrainian Olympian Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the boys’s skeleton occasion on Thursday after he refused to make use of another helmet apart from the one honoring his nation’s athletes who had been killed within the battle with Russia.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Heraskevych locked horns during the last three days in regards to the helmet, which the group mentioned it bans attributable to guidelines in opposition to making political statements on the sphere of play. IOC President Kirsty Coventry even met with Heraskevych to attempt to change his thoughts earlier than the occasion started, however to no avail.

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Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych arrives on the end throughout a males’s skeleton coaching session on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

“We didn’t find common ground in this regard,” Heraskevych mentioned.

Heraskevych obtained phrase from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), saying the helmet was “inconsistent with the Olympic Charter and Guidelines on Athlete Expression.” The IOC supplied concessions to him, together with sporting a black armband or the flexibility to show the helmet off the ice.

“I believe, deeply, the IBSF and IOC understand that I’m not violating any rules,” Heraskevych mentioned. “Also, I would say (it’s) painful that it really looks like discrimination because many athletes already were expressing themselves. … They didn’t face the same things. So, suddenly, just the Ukrainian athlete in this Olympic Games will be disqualified for the helmet.”

Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych arrives on the end throughout a males’s skeleton coaching session on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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The IOC expressed “regret” over the choice.

“As you’ve all seen over the last few days, we’ve allowed for Vladyslav to use his helmet in training,” mentioned Coventry, who at occasions shed tears whereas chatting with reporters. “No one, no one — especially me — is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message. It’s a message of remembrance. It’s a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that. The challenge that we are facing is that we wanted to ask or come up with a solution for just the field of play.”

Mykhailo Heraskevych, father of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, reacts as he sits subsequent to the beginning home of the sliding middle on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The helmet included greater than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who had been killed within the battle.

Heraskevych didn’t precisely really feel for Coventry, saying “In Ukraine now we also have a lot of tears.” He added that the choice “plays along with Russian propaganda.”

“Disqualified. I think that’s enough to understand what the modern IOC really is and how it disgraces the idea of the Olympic movement,” Ukrainian skier Kateryna Kostar wrote in a put up on Instagram. “Vladyslav Heraskevych, for us and for the whole world, you’re a champion. Even without starting.”

Vladyslav Heraskevych of Ukraine throughout coaching as he wears a helmet in tribute to athletes who’ve died amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine on Feb. 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)

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Heraskevych was a favourite to be within the prime three in his occasion. After competing within the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the battle with Russia broke out, and he helped ship meals and provides to his fellow Ukrainians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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