| | | Skeleton racer Heraskevych displays images of athletes killed in Ukraine war on his helmet
27-year-old racer seeks approval for tribute to fallen friends
Julien Pretot · Thomson Reuters · Posted: Feb 09, 2026 10:04 AM CST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
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During a training run on Monday in Cortina d'Ampezzo, skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych displayed some friends on his helmet killed during the war in Ukraine. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
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Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych trained on Monday at the Milano Cortina Games in a helmet with images of compatriots killed during the war ?in Ukraine, delivering on a promise to use the Olympics to keep attention on the conflict.
"Some of them were my friends,” Heraskevych, who is his country's flag bearer, told Reuters of the portraits after his training session at the Cortina Sliding Center.
Visible on the helmet are teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diving athlete ?and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel, he told Reuters.
The 27-year-old said the International Olympic Committee had contacted Ukraine's Olympic Committee over his helmet.
"It's still being processed," he said. Heraskevych, ?who held up a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing Olympics days before Russia’s 2022 ?invasion, had said he intended ?to respect Olympic rules prohibiting political demonstrations at venues while still ?ensuring Ukraine’s plight remained visible during the Games.
Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."
"Rule 50, I believe, is about political statements which harass, make some harassment against other nations and other people, other athletes," ?Heraskevych said.
"I believe it's not the case. So yes, I believe I should be allowed to compete in this helmet and also to pay tribute to some of the members of the Olympic family."
Neither the IOC nor the Ukrainian committee had any immediate comment ?on Heraskevych's case.
"We didn't violate any rules, and it should be allowed for me to compete with this helmet," Heraskevych told The Associated Press. "I cannot understand how this helmet hurt anyone. It's to pay tribute to athletes and some of them were medalists in the Youth Olympic Games. That means they're Olympic family. They were part of this Olympic family, so I cannot understand they would find a reason why not."
Heraskevych, right, walked into the opening ceremony on Friday at Piazza Dibona as Ukraine's flag-bearer. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Sports and politicsFollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus were largely barred from international sport, but the IOC has ?since backed their gradual return under strict conditions.
Moscow and Minsk say sport should remain separate from international conflicts.
There have been a number of incidents over the years where athletes protested on the field of play or on the medals podium.
The most famous case dates back to the ?1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City when U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists during the 200 metres medal ceremony to protest racial ?injustice in the U.S.
That led to their expulsion from the Games, although Smith kept his gold medal ?and Carlos his bronze.
More recently, at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, Afghan breakdancer Manizha Talash, a member of the ?refugee Olympic team, was disqualified after wearing a cape with the slogan.
"Free Afghan Women" during a pre-qualifying competition. However, there have also been cases where athletes ?and teams escaped punishment when their action ?was not deemed political.
Australia's women's soccer team unfurled a flag of the first peoples of Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but, while not one of the recognized flags of participating nations at the Games, the team were not sanctioned.
Two Chinese cycling medallists who wore badges featuring the head of their country's former leader Mao Zedong on the Tokyo Olympics podium escaped with a warning. |
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