IOC threatens to ban Olympian over helmet he refuses to take off
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has threatened to disqualify Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych for protesting against the Russian invasion of his homeland.
The skeleton athlete has refused to take off his “helmet of remembrance”, as he calls it, which depicts images of Ukrainian men and woman killed in the war, despite the committee’s public and private warnings that he is in violation of the written rules around political messaging.
The IOC took another step Wednesday, warning Heraskevych to surrender ahead of the first skeleton heats Thursday.
The 27-year-old, who was the Ukrainian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, has not yet made a move to comply with the committee’s rules, and he used his helmet again during practice Tuesday night.
“We will contact the athlete today, we will reiterate the many, many opportunities that he has to express his grief,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams responded Wednesday. “As we discussed before, he can do so on social media, in the press conferences, in the mixed zone. So we will try to talk to him about that, try to convince him. We want him to compete. We really, really want him to have his moment. That’s very, very important. The athlete guidelines is online, they were agreed by 4,500 athletes and the input of many athlete commissions. This is what the athletes want. They want that specific moment on the field of play to be free from any distraction.
“He can, and we would encourage him, to express his grief. We feel his grief. We would expressly want him to do that but you know in the end let me be clear. It’s not the message, it’s the palace that counts.”
The rule in question is addressed in article 50.2 of the Olympic charter, which states “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
When asked about the option of disqualification, Adams said he doesn’t believe that is “helpful” to look at hypotheticals because “we are actually trying to get to a place where we can get him to take part.”
“But, obviously, there are rules and regulations, and without belaboring the point, there are rules and regulations that the athletes themselves want us to enforce, and they will ultimately be enforced,” he added.
A spot in the competition would be a lot for Heraskevych to give up.
On Tuesday, he was the second-fastest down the icy course behind Britain’s Matt Weston. On Monday, he paced third.
However, his spirit doesn’t seem to be wavering.
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“I used it in all trainings. I used it today, I will use it tomorrow, and I will use it on race day. I truly believe that we didn’t violate any law and any rules,” he said Tuesday.
The Ukrainian team has formally appealed against the helmet ban.
Heraskevych is also joined by luge athlete Olena Smaha, who has “remembrance is not a violation” on her glove.
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