Ukrainian Skeleton Racer Honored with Order of Freedom by Zelenskyy After Appeal Denial

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Province of Belluno — In a poignant appeal to the world of sports, Ukrainian skeleton competitor Vladyslav Heraskevych presented his case before the highest sporting tribunal on Friday. His plea centered on his desire to honor war victims from his homeland by racing at the Milan Cortina Olympics helmet adorned with their images.

Though the arbitrator was touched by Heraskevych’s account, the ruling ultimately did not favor him, marking the end of his hopes for any victory at this year’s Olympic Games.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Heraskevych’s disqualification from the men’s skeleton event. They sided with the International Olympic Committee and the sliding sport federation’s stance, which held that his helmet design—featuring the faces of over 20 Ukrainian coaches and athletes who lost their lives since Russia’s invasion—breached Olympic regulations.

“The court supported the IOC’s decision, affirming that an athlete could be disqualified from the Olympic Games without engaging in misconduct, posing a technical or safety risk, and before even competing,” explained Yevhen Pronin, Heraskevych’s legal representative.

CAS said the sole arbitrator who heard the case sided with IOC policy about what athletes at an Olympics can say on a field of play — and that the “memory helmet” Heraskevych brought to the Milan Cortina Games would not align with the rules.

The arbitrator, CAS said, “found these limitations reasonable and proportionate,” especially since Heraskevych could show his helmet away from the racing surface, such as in interview areas and on social media. Heraskevych also wore the helmet in training runs.

CAS added that the arbitrator “is fully sympathetic to Mr. Heraskevych’s commemoration and to his attempt to raise awareness for the grief and devastation suffered by the Ukrainian people, and Ukrainian athletes because of the war.”

The appeal, which Heraskevych felt he would win, was largely moot anyway. He was disqualified from the competition 45 minutes before its start on Thursday, and whatever CAS said on Friday wouldn’t have changed that.

“Looks like this train has left,” Heraskevych said after Friday’s hearing, knowing there was no way he could race.

He left Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Olympic Village on Thursday night with no plans to return, then headed to Milan and arrived in Munich on Friday night — helmet in hand — for a dinner with Ukrainian officials at a security conference. He also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and was presented with his country’s Order of Freedom.

“Ukraine will always have champions and Olympians,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “But above all, Ukraine’s greatest asset is Ukrainians — those who cherish the truth and the memory of the athletes killed by Russia, athletes who will never compete again because of the Russian aggression.”

Heraskevych was blocked from racing by the IOC and the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation on Thursday after the slider and his father emerged from a last-minute, last-ditch meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry — who was unable to get Heraskevych to change his mind.

His disqualification was justified, Coventry reiterated Friday. The IOC made its decision, one that moved Coventry to tears, off the guidelines for athlete expression at the Olympics.

They say, in part, “the focus on the field of play during competitions and official ceremonies must be on celebrating athletes’ performances.” Heraskevych never made it to the field of play — not in competition, anyway.

“I think that he in some ways understood that but was very committed to his beliefs, which I can respect,” Coventry said. “But sadly, it doesn’t change the rules.”

The IOC contends the rule is in place for multiple reasons, including protecting the athletes from pressure from their own countries or others about using Olympic platforms to make statements.

“I never expected it to be such a big scandal,” Heraskevych said.

He also said he found his accreditation for the games being taken away, then returned in short order on Thursday in what seemed like a goodwill gesture, was puzzling.

“A mockery,” he said.

CAS did agree that Heraskevych should keep his accreditation.

Heraskevych said he felt his disqualification fed into Russian propaganda, noting he and other Ukrainian athletes have seen Russian flags at events at these games — even though they are not allowed by Olympic rule. He has previously spoken out against the IOC’s decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at Milan Cortina as “neutral” athletes and said the IOC empowered Russia by awarding it the 2014 Sochi Games.

He also wondered why other tributes from these Olympics, such as U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov displaying a photo of his late parents — killed in a plane crash last year — have been permitted without penalty.

Italian snowboard competitor Roland Fischnaller had a small Russian flag image on the back of his helmet during these games and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone wore a kippah with the names of the 11 athletes and coaches who were killed representing that country during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Pronin wrote that IOC representatives at Friday’s hearing said “they were not punished because they did not declare this in advance, but did it after the fact, so there was no point in disqualifying them.”

The IOC said those cases were not in violation of any rules. Naumov showed his photo in the kiss-and-cry area and not while he was actually on the ice, Fischnaller’s helmet was a tribute to all the past Olympic sites he competed at with Sochi included, and Firestone’s kippah “was covered by a beanie,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

The IOC offered Heraskevych the chance to compete with a different helmet and bring the tribute one through the interview area after his runs. He also could have worn a black armband, which the IOC typically bans. It says it just didn’t want him making a statement by competing in the helmet.

“I think it’s the wrong side of history for the IOC,” Heraskevych said.

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