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Veteran sportswriter Richard Deitsch takes an international view of the Olympics.<\/p>\n
I wrote in this space yesterday that Vladyslav Heraskevych\u2019s story was a mirror. It reflected the eternal deception of how sports and politics do not intersect. The reality is the intersection has always existed at every Olympics, and on Thursday, the most memorable day of the Milano-Cortina Olympics so far, the intersection simply became impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian skeleton athlete, a medal contender at the Milano-Cortina Games, was not allowed to compete after refusing a last-minute plea from the International Olympic Committee to not race with the helmet that honours his country’s athletes and coaches killed in the war with Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is now a massive global story \u2014 and rightly so. Sports Illustrated\u2019s Pat Forde wrote a powerful column<\/a> worth reading. The New York Times called it \u201cGames\u2019 biggest crisis.\u201d Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, posted repeatedly about it on his social media accounts<\/a>. Even Hollywood actors<\/a> weighed in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSport shouldn\u2019t mean amnesia, and the Olympic movement should help stop wars, not play into the hands of aggressors,\u201d Zelenskyy wrote. \u201c Unfortunately, the decision of the International Olympic Committee to disqualify Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n The IOC will say it cannot set precedent here but they also make the rules on what constitutes expression. More to the point, the political neutrality is hard to swallow from an organization that coddled up to Vladimir Putin by rewarding Russia the 2014 Sochi Games. Heraskevych has appealed his competition ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Reuters reported that CAS <\/a>said it would review the matter with urgency given the circumstances. But the competition is also over.<\/p>\n The final word here belongs to Heraskevych<\/a> and if I can editorialize for a moment, I think he leaves Italy as an Olympic hero. To give up his Olympic dreams for a larger principle is a decision history will judge him well on.\u00a0<\/p>\n The athletes always save the Games, as the expression goes, and the athletes performed with magic on Thursday. Italian Francesca Lollobrigida won a gold medal in an absolutely thrilling women\u2019s 5,000-metre speed skating final \u2014 her second gold medal of the games. Lollobrigida\u2019s time of six minutes 46.17, was just 0.10 seconds ahead of Merel Conijn of Holland.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Italian with the fantastic last name also won Italy\u2019s first gold medal last Saturday in the women\u2019s 3,000 metres. She is only the sixth woman in Olympic history to win both the 3,000 and 5,000 in the same Olympics. Phenomenal.<\/p>\n The biggest star in figure skating hits the ice Friday in what looks like a meeting with destiny. Ilia Malinin, with the memorable \u201cQuad God\u201d nickname, will compete in the men\u2019s free skate in an attempt to win his first individual Olympic gold medal. Malinin\u2019s skate helped Team USA win gold in the team event on Sunday at the Milano Skating Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n The competition starts at 1 p.m. ET, though you will have to wait a couple of hours for Malinin, who skates last in the No. 24 position. The American scored 108.16 in the short program to lead the pack. Japan\u2019s Yuma Kagiyama (skating in the No. 23 spot) and Adam Siao Him Fa (No. 22) of France are the ones who will try to chase Malinin down. If the Quad God wins gold, he will become a household name in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another massive Olympic star competes on Friday as Norway\u2019s Johannes H\u00f8sflot Kl\u00e6bo goes for his eighth career gold medal and third in Milano Cortina as he competes in the men\u2019s cross-country skiing 10km freestyle (5:45 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n Australian snowboard star Scotty James, Japan’s Yuto Totuska and Ryusei Yamada and American Alessandro Barbieri are the ones to watch in the men\u2019s halfpipe final. The first run begins at 1:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n Olympic imagery<\/p>\n Win an Olympic downhill, get engaged, all in the same seven-day stretch.<\/a><\/p>\n Numbers to know<\/p>\n 54\u00a0– Age of U.S. curler Rich Ruohonen, who became America\u2019s oldest Winter Olympian when he stepped onto the ice during his team’s 8-3 loss by Switzerland on Thursday.<\/p>\n 50.2 – The article of the Olympic Charter which states that \u201cno kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n 35 – Age of Italian skier Federica Brignone, who earned the first Olympic gold medal <\/a>of her acclaimed career by winning the women\u2019s super-G on Thursday. She is the oldest female gold medalist in women\u2019s alpine.<\/p>\n 17 – Age of South Korean Choi Gaon, who took down Chloe Kim to win the women\u2019s halfpipe. Kim, who finished with a silver, was attempting to become the first Olympian in history \u2014 male or female \u2014 to win three straight gold medals in the event.<\/p>\n 7 – Medals for Sweden\u2019s women cross-country team <\/a>at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, including two golds for Frida Karlsson and two silver for Ebba Andersson.<\/p>\n What we’re reading around the web<\/p>\n \u25ba Here\u2019s how Cortina\u2019s ice tech, dubbed curling\u2019s Michael Jackson, prepares the Olympic ice. By Julia Frankel of The Associated Press\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u25ba Italy’s RAI journalists escalate revolt after Olympic commentary fiasco. By Giselda Vagnoni of Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n \u25ba Inside the secret text group of U.S. figure skating Olympic gold medallists known as \u2018the OGM chain\u2019 By Dave Skretta of The Associated Press<\/a><\/p>\n \u25ba At the Winter Olympics, drone cameras are pushing limits for viewers \u2014 and athletes. By Lindsey Schell of The Athletic\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770955814_54_default.jpg\")
The Ilia Malinin show begins Friday. (Getty Images)Who will star on Friday?<\/p>\n