On Monday, men’s skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych practiced with a special helmet, only to receive a disheartening decision later that evening.
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Province of Belluno — Competing at the Milan Cortina Olympics, Vladyslav Heraskevych donned a helmet adorned with images of fellow Ukrainian athletes.
Tragically, these athletes lost their lives in Russian attacks.
Heraskevych intended this as a tribute, but according to him, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has denied this gesture.
The skeleton racer, who placed fourth in the previous world championships, was hopeful that the IOC would permit him to use the helmet during the upcoming competitions. He participated in Monday’s training wearing it, pending the committee’s decision regarding its use during official races.
By Monday night, Heraskevych received the IOC’s verdict. It was a denial, he reported.
“We didn’t violate any rules, and it should be allowed for me to compete with this helmet,” Heraskevych told The Associated Press before announcing he got word from the IOC. “I cannot understand how this helmet hurt anyone. It’s to pay tribute to athletes and some of them were medalists in the Youth Olympic Games. That means they’re Olympic family. They were part of this Olympic family, so I cannot understand they would find a reason why not.”
Figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, a onetime Youth Olympic Games teammate of Heraskevych, is on the helmet, as are boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, hockey player Oleksiy Loginov and others. Some, he said, were killed on the front lines; at least one died while trying to distribute aid to fellow Ukrainians.
“I didn’t know all of them,” he said. “But I knew a lot of them.”
Later Monday, the IOC told AP that Ukraine’s sliding federation had not asked for permission to wear the helmet. About an hour later, Heraskevych said an IOC representative came to tell him that the helmet violated what’s called Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter. That rule, in part, states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
The IOC did not announce its ruling Monday night. Earlier in the day, it said it was waiting for Ukraine to ask permission to use the helmet and then would evaluate the case.
Heraskevych has not shied away from voicing his opinion about the war; he spoke out last fall about how some athletes from Russia were given neutral status to compete in these Olympics.
Heraskevych, a flag bearer for Ukraine at last week’s opening ceremony, displayed a sign after his fourth and final run of the 2022 Beijing Olympics saying “No War in Ukraine.” Days after those Games ended, Russia invaded his country and the war has waged since.
There had been a question at that time of whether the IOC might consider Heraskevych’s act at that time a violation of Rule 50. But the IOC said shortly after that race there would be no repercussions over what Heraskevych did in Beijing, saying it was “a general call for peace.”
Heraskevych hoped the same would ring true this time as well.
“For me, it will be very important to pay tribute to these athletes,” Heraskevych said. “We have to show also the huge price of Ukraine’s freedom.”
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