Zelenskyy Slams IOC: ‘Sport Shouldn’t Mean Amnesia’ as Ukrainian Athlete Banned for Honoring Fallen Countrymen
At the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics on Thursday, a touching act of remembrance turned into controversy when Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from competition just minutes before his event was set to begin.
Heraskevych, who carried Ukraine’s flag during the opening ceremony and had shown strong form in training—placing among the fastest competitors—insisted on wearing a custom helmet featuring black-and-white portraits of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
The helmet was meant as a tribute to honor their memory and highlight the human cost of the ongoing war, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed 660 athletes and coaches in his country have lost their lives.
Instead, the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), acting under International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, ruled the design violated the Olympic Charter’s rules against political statements or expressions on the field of play. While the helmet was permitted during training sessions, officials drew a firm line for actual competition.
The IOC offered compromises, including a black armband for mourning or displaying the helmet away from the track, but Heraskevych refused, standing by his message.
“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.”
Not being a big fan of U.S. funding of the Ukraine War, even this reporter views the decision to be absolutely absurd. It’s not like Heraskevych’s helmet had images of actual bodies. Oh, and by the way, Russia is not allowed to compete as a nation in the 2026 Winter Olympics due to its invasion of Ukraine.
If what they’ve done leads to a ban, then who the hell cares if somebody makes a political statement that might upset them?
Heraskevych added that the decision “plays along with Russian propaganda” and expressed frustration after a private meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry, saying they “didn’t find common ground.”
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Coventry, visibly emotional and tearful while speaking to reporters, acknowledged the power of the message.
“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,” she said. “The challenge that we are facing is that we wanted to ask or come up with a solution for just the field of play.”
Coventry reportedly asked him not to wear the helmet during the run, since the faces can’t clearly be seen anyway while he’s going down the track at speeds upwards of 75mph. But Heraskevych wasn’t having it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly condemned the IOC’s decision on social media, framing it as a betrayal of Olympic ideals.
“Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors,” he said. “Unfortunately, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says otherwise. This is certainly not about the principles of Olympism, which are founded on fairness and the support of peace.
“I thank our athlete for his clear stance. His helmet, bearing the portraits of fallen Ukrainian athletes, is about honor and remembrance.”
Sport shouldn’t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors. Unfortunately, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says otherwise. This is certainly… pic.twitter.com/gGXizj5C5m
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 12, 2026
How is it that the folks running the Olympics consistently err on the wrong side of just about everything? They still haven’t even straightened out the Jordan Chiles bronze medal fiasco from Paris.
Heraskevych, a former world championships fourth-place finisher who had medal hopes, plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, though his racing opportunity is lost. He retains his Olympic credentials and can stay at the Games as a non-competing participant.