IOC bars Ukrainian skeleton racer from wearing memorial helmet at Olympics

DW News · Feb 10, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has barred Ukraine's skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from wearing a helmet that honors Ukrainian athletes killed in 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 told a news conference ‌on Tuesday. "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," he added. Skeleton racer to wear black armband Ukraine's Olympic Committee on Tuesday asked the IOC to allow Heraskevych to wear the "helmet of remembrance" at the Milano-Cortina Games. The committee made the request after an IOC representative told Heraskevych he cannot use the helmet he has worn in training, which features images of athletes killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.Olympic officials decided the helmet broke the rule banning political statementsImage: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images The Ukrainian Olympic Committee insists the design contains no political slogans or discriminatory elements. "The helmet was created to honor Ukrainian athletes killed while defending Ukraine or who became victims of ​Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine," Ukraine's Olympic Committee said in a statement. The IOC denied the request ahead of the skeleton competition, which starts Thursday. However, the IOC announced that, as a compromise, Heraskevych will be permitted to wear a black armband when competing at the games. "We ‌feel this is a good compromise," Adams said. He said the field of play needed to remain 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 explained.What else do we know about Heraskevych's helmet honoring war victims? Heraskevych, who is generally considered a medal hopeful at the games, said he could not understand how the helmet "hurt anyone." It included photos of figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, and others, some of whom were killed on the front lines, Heraskevych said. Before the IOC's decision Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced his support for Heraskevych 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," he wrote. Athletes from Russia are not allowed to take part in the Olympic Games under a Russian flag, but 13 Russians are taking part in the Winter Olympics as "Individual Neutral Athletes." The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in February 2022, arguing that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched days after the Beijing Winter Games, violated the Olympic Truce. Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko