CORTINA D’AMPEZZO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defended a Winter Olympian’s right to wear a helmet featuring athletes killed during the war with Russia after skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych said the IOC banned it at the Games.
Heraskevych wore the helmet during a training session in Cortina and had intended to use the Games in Italy to help maintain international pressure on Russia.
The 27-year-old said in a social media post on Monday that the International Olympic Committee had banned his custom helmet — which has portraits of Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s 2022 invasion — from training and competition.
The IOC has yet to publicly confirm that.
Heraskevych, who was Ukraine’s flag bearer, said the decision “simply breaks my heart.”
The skeleton racer said he would submit an official request to the IOC and continue to seek permission to use the helmet.
It is approaching four years since Vladimir Putin launched Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, just after the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
“I thank the flag bearer of our national team at the Winter Olympics, Vladyslav Heraskevych, for reminding the world of the price of our struggle,” Zelensky said on X.
“This truth cannot be inconvenient, inappropriate or called a ‘political demonstration at a sporting event.’ It is a reminder to the entire world of what modern Russia is,” the president added.
Gestures of a political nature on the medal podium have been forbidden since 2021 under article 50 of the Olympic Charter but athletes are permitted to express their views in press conferences and on social media.
Ukrainian Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi told AFP this month that Russia has killed “more than 650 athletes and coaches,” according to the latest data.
In various social media videos, Heraskevych has said the images represent only a fraction of the athletes killed since the full?scale invasion and include Olympians and Youth Olympic medallists, such as his former teammate, figure skater Dmytro Sharpar.
At the head of a delegation of 46 athletes, Heraskevych marched in Milan last week as his country’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony, alongside speed skater Yelyzaveta Sydorko.
He will be competing at his third Winter Games.