02/12/26 05:19:00
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02/12 05:18 CST Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych out of Winter Olympics over
banned helmet honoring war dead
Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych out of Winter Olympics over banned helmet
honoring war dead
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) --- Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav
Heraskevych, a likely medal contender at the Milan Cortina Games, was not
allowed to compete Thursday after refusing a last-minute plea from the
International Olympic Committee to use a helmet other than the one that honors
more than 20 of his country's athletes and coaches killed in the war with
Russia.
The decision came roughly 45 minutes before the start of the competition,
ending a three-day saga where Heraskevych knew he was risking being pulled from
the Games by wearing the helmet, one that the IOC says bans rules against
making statements on the field of play.
He received written word Thursday from the International Bobsled and Skeleton
Federation, which said his decision to wear the helmet was "inconsistent with
the Olympic Charter and Guidelines on Athlete Expression." He wore the helmet
in training, but the IOC asked --- pleaded might be the better word --- for him
to wear a different helmet in races and offered concessions such as the right
to wear a black armband or even the ability to display the helmet once he was
off the ice.
"I believe, deeply, the IBSF and IOC understand that I'm not violating any
rules," Heraskevych said. "Also, I would say (it's) painful that it really
looks like discrimination because many athletes already were expressing
themselves. ... They didn't face the same things. So, suddenly, just the
Ukrainian athlete in this Olympic Games will be disqualified for the helmet."
IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was slated to be in Cortina d'Ampezzo on
Thursday to see Alpine skiing, went to the sliding center instead to meet
Heraskevych. She was waiting at the top of the track when he arrived around
8:15 a.m., and they met privately a few minutes later. After about 10 minutes,
Coventry was unable to change Heraskevych's mind.
"We didn't find common ground in this regard," Heraskevych said.
Coventry spoke with reporters after the meeting, tears rolling down her face at
times as she spoke. The Olympic champion swimmer made clear that she wanted a
different outcome, and the official statement from the IOC said the decision
was made "with regret."
"As you've all seen over the last few days, we've allowed for Vladyslav to use
his helmet in training," Coventry said. "No one, 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 and no one is disagreeing with
that. The challenge that we are facing is that we wanted to ask or come up with
a solution for just the field of play."
In their meeting, Coventry and Heraskevych agreed that the helmet --- which has
images of the faces of more than 20 people who were killed in the war --- isn't
clearly visible anyway, given that sliders are zipping down the icy chute
reaching speeds of more than 120 kph (75 mph).
That, the IOC hoped, was the window to a compromise. If the faces on the helmet
can't be clearly seen when he's racing anyway, would he consider not using it
while sliding?
He would not budge.
"Sadly, we've not been able to come to that solution," Coventry said. "I really
wanted to see him race today. It's been an emotional morning."
Heraskevych said he would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the
race is already happening. Medals will be decided Friday. Regardless of what
CAS says, if anything, his chance to race in these Games is gone.
After word of Coventry's emotions, Heraskevych said: "In Ukraine now we also
have a lot of tears" and said the decision "plays along with Russian
propaganda." About a dozen Russian athletes are being allowed to compete at the
Olympics as neutral individuals along with seven Belarusians. They are not
allowed to compete under their national flag or anthem.
"Disqualified. I think that's enough to understand what the modern IOC really
is and how it disgraces the idea of the Olympic movement," Ukrainian skier
Kateryna Kotsar wrote on Instagram. "Vladyslav Heraskevych, for us and for the
whole world, you're a champion. Even without starting."
The IOC had sided with Ukraine's top slider before. When he displayed a "No war
in Ukraine" sign after his fourth and final run at the 2022 Beijing Olympics,
the IOC said he was simply calling for peace and did not find him in violation
of the Olympic charter.
This time, Heraskevych said he believes there are inconsistencies in how the
IOC decides what statements are allowed. Among those he cited: U.S. figure
skater Maxim Naumov bringing a photo of his late parents --- former pairs world
champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were among the 67 people
killed in a plane crash on Jan. 29, 2025 --- to the kiss-and-cry area after his
skate in Milan on Tuesday night, and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone's
decision to appear at the opening ceremony wearing a kippah that bore the names
of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed in the 1972 Munich attack.
"A competitor literally placed the memory of the dead on his head to honor
them," Heraskevych wrote on Instagram. "I frankly do not understand how these
two cases are fundamentally different."
Firestone said he admired Heraskevych while noting "the flag on my helmet's
just representing the country."
"I think he's a man with strong values. I think it's very impressive. As a
person I really, really respect him," Firestone said.
In Milan, IOC spokesman Mark Adams fielded a slew of questions about the case.
"It is simply about the sanctity of the field of play," he said, insisting the
rules also protected athletes in some countries from being pressured by "their
political masters" to being messaging into Olympic arenas.
"You could see where that would lead to a chaotic situation," Adams said.
Heraskevych was fourth at the world championships last year and was
consistently among the fastest in training leading into the Olympic races. A
medal was certainly within reach, but to Heraskevych, the helmet mattered more.
"The International Olympic Committee destroyed our dreams," said Mykhailo
Heraskevych, the slider's coach and father. "It's not fair."
___
AP journalists Julia Frankel, Vasilisa Stepanenko and Graham Dunbar contributed.
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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