By TIM REYNOLDS, Related Press Sports activities Author
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, a possible medal contender on the Milan Cortina Games, was not allowed to compete Thursday after refusing a last-minute plea from the Worldwide Olympic Committee to make use of a helmet aside from the one which honors more than 20 of his country’s athletes and coaches killed within the conflict with Russia.
The choice got here roughly 45 minutes earlier than the beginning of the competitors, ending a three-day saga the place Heraskevych knew he was risking being pulled from the Video games by carrying the helmet, one which the IOC says bans guidelines towards making statements on the sphere of play.
He obtained written phrase Thursday from the Worldwide Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, which mentioned his resolution to put on the helmet was “inconsistent with the Olympic Constitution and Tips on Athlete Expression.” He wore the helmet in coaching, however the IOC requested — pleaded is perhaps the higher phrase — for him to put on a special helmet in races and provided concessions akin to the correct to put on a black armband and even the power to show the helmet as soon as he was off the ice.
“I consider, deeply, the IBSF and IOC perceive that I’m not violating any guidelines,” Heraskevych mentioned. “Additionally, I’d say (it’s) painful that it actually seems like discrimination as a result of many athletes already had been expressing themselves. … They didn’t face the identical issues. So, abruptly, simply the Ukrainian athlete on this Olympic Video games might be disqualified for the helmet.”
IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was slated to be in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Thursday to see Alpine snowboarding, went to the sliding middle as an alternative to fulfill Heraskevych. She was ready on the high of the observe when he arrived round 8:15 a.m., they usually met privately a couple of minutes later. After about 10 minutes, Coventry was unable to vary Heraskevych’s thoughts.
“We didn’t discover frequent floor on this regard,” Heraskevych mentioned.
Coventry spoke with reporters after the assembly, tears rolling down her face at occasions as she spoke. The Olympic champion swimmer made clear that she needed a special end result, and the official assertion from the IOC mentioned the choice was made “with remorse.”
“As you’ve all seen over the previous few days, we’ve allowed for Vladyslav to make use of his helmet in coaching,” Coventry mentioned. “Nobody, nobody — particularly me — is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a strong message. It’s a message of remembrance. It’s a message of reminiscence and nobody is disagreeing with that. The problem that we face is that we needed to ask or give you an answer for simply the sphere of play.”
Of their assembly, Coventry and Heraskevych agreed that the helmet — which has pictures of the faces of greater than 20 individuals who had been killed within the conflict — isn’t clearly seen anyway, provided that sliders are zipping down the icy chute reaching speeds of greater than 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 think about not utilizing it whereas sliding?
He wouldn’t budge.
“Sadly, we’ve not been in a position to come to that resolution,” Coventry mentioned. “I actually needed to see him race right now. It’s been an emotional morning.”
Heraskevych mentioned he would enchantment to the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport, however the race is already occurring. Medals might be determined Friday. No matter what CAS says, if something, his likelihood to race in these Video games is gone.
After phrase of Coventry’s feelings, Heraskevych mentioned: “In Ukraine now we even have quite a lot of tears” and mentioned the choice “performs together with Russian propaganda.”
“Disqualified. I believe that’s sufficient to grasp what the fashionable IOC actually is and the way it disgraces the concept of the Olympic motion,” Ukrainian skier Kateryna Kotsar wrote on Instagram. “Vladyslav Heraskevych, for us and for the entire world, you’re a champion. Even with out beginning.”
The IOC had sided with Ukraine’s high slider earlier than. When he displayed a “No war in Ukraine” signal after his fourth and remaining run on the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the IOC mentioned he was merely calling for peace and didn’t discover him in violation of the Olympic constitution.
This time, Heraskevych mentioned he believes there are inconsistencies in how the IOC decides what statements are allowed. Amongst these he cited: U.S. determine skater Maxim Naumov bringing a photograph of his late mother and father — former pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who had been among the 67 people killed in a aircraft crash on Jan. 29, 2025 — to the kiss-and-cry space after his skate in Milan on Tuesday evening, and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone’s resolution to look on the opening ceremony carrying a kippah that bore the names of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed within the 1972 Munich assault.
“A competitor actually positioned the reminiscence of the lifeless on his head to honor them,” Heraskevych wrote on Instagram. “I frankly don’t perceive how these two circumstances are basically totally different.”
Firestone mentioned he admired Heraskevych whereas noting “the flag on my helmet’s simply representing the nation.”
“I believe he’s a person with robust values. I believe it’s very spectacular. As an individual I actually, actually respect him,” Firestone mentioned.
In Milan, IOC spokesman Mark Adams fielded a slew of questions concerning the case
“It’s merely concerning the sanctity of the sphere of play,” he mentioned, insisting the foundations additionally protected athletes in some international locations from being pressured by “their political masters” to being messaging into Olympic arenas.
“You would see the place that will result in a chaotic scenario,” Adams mentioned.
Heraskevych was fourth on the world championships final yr and was constantly among the many quickest in coaching main into the Olympic races. A medal was actually inside attain, however to Heraskevych, the helmet mattered extra.
“The Worldwide Olympic Committee destroyed our goals,” mentioned Mykhailo Heraskevych, the slider’s coach and father. “It’s not truthful.”
AP journalists Julia Frankel, Vasalisa Stepanenko and Graham Dunbar contributed.
