Yesterday, Thursday, February 12, right before the skeleton competition, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) announced the disqualification of Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych because of his helmet.
The helmet, according to Heraskevych, is “special”. He explained, “It shows several athletes who have died over the past four years. Some of them were members of the Olympic movement, part of the Olympic family; others were simply children who came under Russian fire. These were people who had been closely connected to sport[s] their entire lives, who supported us and were our friends”.
The helmet was designed by Ukrainian artist Iryna Prost and features the portraits of 24 people, including “track and field athlete Kateryna Troyan, figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, boxer Maksym Halinichev, cyclist Andriy Kutsenko, gymnast Karina Diachenko, hockey player Oleksii Lohinov, fencer Fedir Yepifanov, and kickboxer Karyna Bakhur”.
Heraskevych was warned not to wear the helmet in competition, but announced at a press conference on the second day of training that he planned to wear “the helmet of remembrance despite the ban”. The ban of Heraskevych’s helmet comes after another helmet was banned, worn by Ukrainian freestyle skier Kateryna Kotsar, with the message “be brave like Ukrainians” written across it.
Other athletes at the Winter Olympics are showing their support for Heraskevych, such as Ukrainian Luger Olina Smaha, who wore a glove reading, “remembrance is not a violation” during her singles event.
The IOC cited “Rule 50”, which bans “any form of political, religious, or ethnic demonstrations” as their reasoning for the disqualification. This ruling has many questioning the IOC’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under the neutral “Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs)” flag this year. The IOC is supposed to conduct a thorough review of these athletes to ensure they have not actively supported the war before allowing them to compete at Olympic competitions. However, many concerns have been raised about this review process and the panel members.
According to an investigation by BBC Sports, many of the Russian athletes have ties to the war and affiliations with Russian military organizations. These athletes have participated in spreading pro-war, pro-Putin, and pro-military messages in person and across social media, and some also actively served in the military during the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also voiced disappointment over the IOC’s decision, saying, “Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors… This is certainly not about the principles of Olympism, which are founded on fairness and the support of peace,” in a social media post.
Fans and athletes alike continue to call out the IOC over this “double standard”. The Ukrainian team is filing a claim with the “Court of Arbitration for Sport” over the case. Latvia’s national team “has also filed a protest”, and other countries like South Korea, Denmark, and Italy have expressed support for Team Ukraine and Heraskevych.
