The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has prevented Ukraine’s skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing in a helmet that pays tribute to Ukrainian sportspeople killed during the war with Russia.
“The IOC fully understands the desire of athletes to remember friends who lost their lives in that conflict,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a news conference. “He has done that in training and on social media he has expressed his feelings but what we have said is this helmet contravenes the … guidelines.”
Ukraine’s Olympic Committee asked the IOC to permit Heraskevych to wear the “helmet of remembrance” at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Games after an IOC representative told the athlete he could not use the helmet he had been wearing in training. The design features photographs of athletes who died following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The Ukrainian committee maintained the helmet contains no political slogans or discriminatory content, saying it was created “to honor Ukrainian athletes killed while defending Ukraine or who became victims of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.”
The IOC denied the request ahead of the skeleton competition, which begins Thursday. As a compromise, officials said Heraskevych may wear a black armband while competing. “We feel this is a good compromise,” Adams said, adding the field of play should be kept as neutral as possible. “We need to keep that specific moment (on the field of play) as pure as we can for the competition. People can express themselves however they want to elsewhere,” he said.
Heraskevych, considered a medal contender, said he could not understand how the helmet would harm anyone. He said it included photos of figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, hockey player Oleksiy Loginov and others, some of whom died fighting on the front lines.
Before the IOC decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced support on social media: “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.”
Russian athletes are not allowed to compete under the Russian flag at the Games, though 13 Russians are participating as “Individual Neutral Athletes.” The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in February 2022, saying Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine violated the Olympic Truce.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko