‘My Olympic moment was stolen’

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday for refusing to wear a different helmet than the one that honors athletes killed in the war with Russia.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Kirsty Coventry informed him of his disqualification in a meeting early Thursday at the sliding venue.

Coventry was waiting for Heraskevych at the top of the track when he arrived at around 8:15 a.m., about 75 minutes before the start of the men’s skeleton race.

They went into a private area and spoke briefly. Apparently, however, Coventry was unable to convince Heraskevych to agree to race while wearing a different helmet.

‘My Olympic moment was stolen’

Speaking to German public broacaster ZDF minutes after the decision, Heraskevych insisted that his disqualification was unjust.

“I have repeated this from Day 1; I don’t think it violates any rules. In accordance with Rule 50 we don’t have any political propaganda, we don’t have any racial propaganda, and we don’t have any harassment towards anyone on this helmet. So I believe this helmet didn’t (break) any rules,” he said. 

The Olympic Charter rule that Heraskevych referred to states that: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

He also asserted that despite the fact that he had finished well out of the medals at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Games, he would have been in the hunt for a place on the podium on Friday.

“The last days were good training (sessions) for me, I was fast, I was among the best athletes,  and I could have been a medalist tomorrow,” Heraskevych said.

“But we will never know, because my Olympic moment was stolen.”

He again stressed that he believed it was his right to “represent these athletes who died” because it was also due to their sacrifice that he was able to be there.

“This is more important than winning a medal,” he said.

Tired and frustrated

Speaking later to DW, Heraskevych said the past few days had been very tiring, but he still firmly believed that he should have been given the opportunity to compete – and was looking at pursuing the matter at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“It’s frustrating. We put a lot of effort and training in over four years. This was also at a time of a full-scale war, so it was under very hard circumstances.”

He also said he found it difficult to understand why the IOC had taken the stand it has.

“If (the) IOC reacts in a way with common sense, we will not have this terrible scandal now,” he said.

“And then there is much less politics in this competition and also much more attention (being paid) to the athletes in the competition now.”  

What did the IOC say?

Following her meeting with Heraskevych, Coventry also spoke with reporters. She was visibly emotional, with tears rolling down her face as she spoke.

“It’s a message of memory and no one is disagreeing with that,” she said.

The IOC stated that it made its decision “with regret.”

“Despite multiple exchanges and in-person meetings between the IOC and Mr Heraskevych, the last one this morning with IOC President Kirsty Coventry, he did not consider any form of compromise,” the IOC said in a statement.

“The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete. This is why the IOC sat down with him to look for the most respectful way to address his desire to remember his fellow athletes who have lost their lives following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The essence of this case is not about the message, it is about where he wanted to express it,” the statement added.

Ukrainian president weighs in

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy swiftly criticized the IOC decision, saying it ​contradicted the spirit of the ​Games.

“Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, ​and ‌the Olympic movement should help stop wars, ‌not play into the ‌hands ​of aggressors,” he wrote on X.

What is the helmet of remembrance?

Heraskevych came to the Milano Cortina Olympics with a customized helmet displaying the faces of over 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches who were killed in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the IOC announced that the helmet would not be permitted during the competition, citing a rule prohibiting political statements on the Olympic field of play.  It offered a compromise solution allowing the athlete to wear a black armband instead but Heraskevych did not want to back down.

He wore a helmet during training on Tuesday and Wednesday, knowing that the IOC could ultimately disqualify him from the Olympic race.

At the last Olympics in Beijing in 2022, Heraskevych displayed a banner that read, “No War in Ukraine.” Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine four days after those Olympics ended.

Elisabetta Galla contributed to this report. 
Edited by: Sean Sinico and Matt Pearson