Ukrainian skeleton racer disqualified from Olympics over ‘helmet of remembrance’

Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych is disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee says.

He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue, shortly before the start of his competition.

His team says they will appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Coventry tells reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.

“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry tells reporters. “No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.”

“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution,” she adds, choking up. “I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”

“It’s literally about the rules and the regulations and that in this case… we have to be able to keep a safe environment for everyone and sadly, that just means no messaging is allowed,” she says.

The IOC had offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.

Ukraine’s Olympic Committee, which supported Heraskevych in the case, says it is not planning to boycott the Games over the disqualification.

Ukraine’s foreign minister condemned the decision.

“The IOC has banned not the Ukrainian athlete, but its own reputation. Future generations will recall this as a moment of shame,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga writes in a post on social media.