Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has said he could be disqualified from the Winter Olympics after refusing to stop wearing a custom tribute helmet honoring athletes killed by Russia, which was banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The 27-year-old said in a social media post on Monday that the decision to ban the helmet, which he wore during a training session in Cortina to draw attention to Russian aggression, “simply breaks my heart.”
He added that he would submit an official request to the IOC and continue seeking permission to wear it.
Despite the ban, Heraskevych returned to training the next day, completing two runs in the helmet.
In a Tuesday interview with Suspilne Sport, Heraskevych said: “This helmet deserves to be here at the Olympics. The world needs to see our athletes. I don’t believe we are breaking any IOC rules, and I believe we have the right to compete wearing this helmet.”
When asked by journalists, the young skeleton racer said that he had not ruled out the possibility that he could be disqualified by the IOC for continuing to appear on the track in the helmet.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it could happen. We’ll see, it’s hard to say right now, but it’s possible. We don’t have many details, I’m learning everything from the media” he answered.
He also questioned the grounds for the ban: “What rule is being violated? There’s Rule 50, which forbids items promoting political, racial propaganda or discrimination. I don’t think any of that is present here.”
He added: “The helmet is no more propaganda than the flags of other countries that athletes carry on their jackets or country names they wear. That’s far more propaganda than this helmet. Honestly, I don’t understand why we can’t participate wearing it.”
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian NOC contacted the IOC to request permission for Heraskevych to use the “memorial helmet,” emphasizing that it “complies with the organization’s rules.”
Heraskevych, who served as Ukraine’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony, is scheduled to compete on Thursday, February 12, at 10:30 a.m.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had condemned the decision not to permit the tribute, writing on X: “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.”
“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.
Featured among the images on the helmet are teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diving athlete and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel.
“Some of them were my friends,” Heraskevych had said after debuting the gear.
According to Andriy Sybiha, the foreign minister, over 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed and more than 800 sports facilities have been destroyed over the course of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.