Olympics-Skeleton-Ukraine’s Heraskevych says he will wear banned helmet to compete, defying IOC

By Julien Pretot and Karolos Grohmann

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych said on Tuesday he would wear his “helmet of remembrance” honouring those killed in the war with Russia at the Winter Olympics skeleton competition despite an explicit International Olympic Committee ban of the headgear.

The 27-year-old has been training in Italy with the helmet showing 24 images of dead Ukrainian athletes, but the IOC said he could not do so in the competition starting on Thursday due to a rule banning any political statements in the fields of play.

He could instead wear a black armband, it said.

“Because of their (the dead athletes’) sacrifice, we are able to compete here as a team,” Heraskevych, who displayed a “No War in Ukraine” sign at Beijing 2022 days before Russia’s invasion, told a press conference on Tuesday.

“I believe they deserve to be with me on competition day. I will use it (the helmet) on race day,” he said.

IOC OFFERS ARMBAND COMPROMISE

The IOC earlier in the day said the athlete had worn the helmet in training and had expressed his views on social media but could not do so once the competition got under way.

“We tried to address his desire with compassion,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference on Tuesday, explaining the decision. “The IOC fully understands the desire of athletes to remember friends who lost their lives in that conflict.”

Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter states that no form of demonstration or political, religious or racial issues can be raised on fields of play or podiums though athletes can express themselves freely elsewhere.     

“The Games need to be separated from all types of interference so that all athletes can concentrate on their performances … We need to keep that specific moment as pure as we can for the competition,” Adams added. 

“This helmet contravenes the … guidelines but … we will make an exception to allow him to wear a black armband during that competition to make that commemoration … We feel this is a good compromise of the situation.” 

UKRAINIAN POLITICIANS UNHAPPY AT BAN

Heraskevych has received support from his country’s political leaders, including Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on Tuesday.

“More than 650 Ukrainian athletes will never stand on an Olympic stage. They were killed by Russians,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X. “Against this reality, the decision to ban the helmet of our athlete… which commemorates some of our fallen is profoundly wrong. Remembering the dead is not politics. It is dignity.”

“The IOC should honour those who can no longer compete, not silence their memory,” she said. 

Heraskevych’s helmet depicts various athletes killed in the war – some of whom were his friends. They include teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diver and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel.

Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus were largely barred from international sport but the IOC has since backed their gradual return under strict conditions.

Moscow and Minsk say sport should remain separate from international conflicts.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot and Karolos Grohmann; Additional reporting Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Ken Ferris and Alison Williams)