The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych to wear a black armband in competition. However, his request to wear a helmet with images of deceased Ukrainian athletes was rejected.
Reuters writes about this.
The day before, Heraskevych was banned from wearing this helmet by the IOC representative Toshio Tsurunaga, who is responsible for communication between athletes and IOC. He referred to Rule 50 of the IOC Statutes, which prohibits any political, religious or racial propaganda at competitions.
Getty Images / «Babel'»
In response to Heraskevychʼs request to reconsider the decision, the Committee representative Mark Adams called the possibility of wearing an armband an exception to the rules and a "good compromise", since athletes were previously prohibited from even wearing one.
He stated that IOC understands the athletesʼ desire to "honor the memory of their friends who died in that conflict".
Heraskevych, in a comment to Reuters, said he was unhappy with the IOCʼs decision. He did not see a violation of the Rule 50, as the image on the helmet was neither discrimination nor political propaganda.
- This is not the first time that Vladyslav Heraskevych has made his stance known at the Olympics. In February 2022, two weeks before the full-scale invasion, he held a silent protest with a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing Games. IOC then spoke to the athlete and his team, telling them that “the field is not the place for statements”.
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