Ukraine condemns IOC disqualification of Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych over helmet honoring killed by Russians 650 sportspeople

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for disqualifying a skeleton racer, Vladyslav Heraskevych, who intended to compete at the Olympics wearing a helmet bearing images of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russians, thereby honoring the memory of Ukrainian sportspeople. 

Vladyslav Heraskevych

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned Heraskevych for continuing to wear a helmet featuring images of athletes killed during Russia’s invasion of his home country, which the IOC says breaks its rules.

Heraskevych, who wore the helmet in all of his training runs before the competition began on February 12, was told by the IOC on Tuesday that it “does not comply” with the Olympic charter and that he was not allowed to wear it, BBC Sport reported.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry visited the 26-year-old at Cortina’s sliding track at 07:30 local time on Thursday before the first skeleton heat in a final attempt to convince him not to wear the helmet in competition.

But the IOC said Heraskevych “did not consider any form of compromise”.

Cameras captured Vladyslav’s father, Mykhailo, who, upon learning of the IOC’s decision, could not hold back his emotions and burst into tears. The athlete himself, for that matter, also barely held back tears after learning about the ban on competing in the Games.

“The IOC has banned not the Ukrainian athlete, but its own reputation. Future generations will recall this as a moment of shame. He [Vladyslav Heraskevych] simply wanted to commemorate fellow athletes killed in war. There is nothing wrong with that under any rules or ethics,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The Minister is startled that the IOC intimidated, disrespected, and even lectured our athlete and other Ukrainians on how they should keep quiet about “one of 130 conflicts in the world”.

“The IOC has also systemically failed to confront the greatest abuser of international sports and the Olympic Charter — Russia,” Sybiha said.

He pointed out that the Russian Federation has launched three invasions during Olympic truces over the past three decades, killed 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches, and destroyed 800 sports facilities in Ukraine.

“None of them are ‘neutral,'” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also criticized the IOC’s decision. 

“Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors. Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee’s decision to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says otherwise. This is certainly not about the principles of Olympism, which are founded on fairness and the support of peace,” the President said in his post on X. 

Zelenskyy pointed out that despite calls for a ceasefire during the Winter Olympic Games, Russia continues to increase its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine.

“660 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed by Russia since the full-scale invasion began. Hundreds of our athletes will never again be able to take part in the Olympic Games or any other international competitions. And yet, 13 Russians are currently competing at the Olympics in Italy. They compete under “neutral” flags at the Games, while in real life publicly supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories. And they are the ones who deserve disqualification,” the president stressed.

After the IOC decision, Heraskevych and his team announced that they plan to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge the disqualification and protect their rights. The athlete claims that he did not break any rules and emphasizes the importance of the symbolic weight of his action.