CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — A Ukrainian skeleton athlete has been disqualified from the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics after insisting on wearing a helmet honoring fellow athletes killed in Russia’s unprovoked invasion of his country.
The International Olympic Committee announced the decision on Thursday, Feb. 12, after Vladyslav Heraskevych met with IOC president Kirsty Coventry before the start of the skeleton competition.
‘The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete,’ the IOC said in a statement. ‘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.’
Heraskevych said he will appeal the IOC’s decision to bar him from competition to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The men’s individual skeleton competition began Thursday. The mixed team event is Sunday, Feb. 15.
‘It’s hard to say or put into words. It’s emptiness,” Heraskevych told reporters outside the sliding center.
Heraskevych is being allowed to stay at the Games after Coventry intervened.
‘No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message. It’s a message of remembrance. It’s a message of memory,’ Coventry said after meeting with Heraskevych. ‘It’s not about the messaging; it’s literally about the rules and the regulations.’
Heraskevych’s helmet has images of more than 20 athletes and coaches killed since Russia invaded Ukraine almost four years ago. They include figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, who competed with Heraskevych during the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics
The IOC says the helmet violates its rules against making political statements on the field of play, and said it offered Heraskevych alternatives, including wearing a black armband or a black ribbon. It also said Heraskevych could carry the helmet with him in the mixed zone after he was done competing.
But Heraskevych has rebuffed the options, saying his helmet is not a political statement.
‘This is price of our dignity,’ he said in a post on X after the IOC’s decision.
Heraskevych had seemed to anticipate the IOC’s decision in a post Wednesday night thanking people for their support.
‘For me, the sacrifice of the people depicted on the helmet means more than any medal ever could – because they gave the most precious thing they had,’ he wrote.
This is not the first time Heraskevych has used his Olympic platform to protest Russia’s aggression toward his country. He displayed a small sign with ‘No war in Ukraine’ after his final run at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Russia invaded Ukraine two weeks later.