{"id":294118,"date":"2026-02-12T11:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294118\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:47:13","slug":"ukrainian-skeleton-athlete-vladylsav-heraskevych-disqualified-from-winter-olympics-over-helmet-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294118\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladylsav Heraskevych disqualified from Winter Olympics over helmet stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Olympic Committee had ruled the helmet to be in contravention of regulations surrounding political statements in the field of play, but Heraskevych insisted he would not compromise on the issue.<\/p>\n

Less than an hour before the event was to begin, the IOC announced he would not be permitted to compete.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, the IOC said: “Skeleton pilot Vladylsav Heraskevych not allowed to participate at Milano Cortina 2026 after refusing to adhere to the IOC athlete expression guidelines<\/p>\n

“Having been given one final opportunity, skeleton pilot Vladylsav Heraskevych from Ukraine will not be able to start his race at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games this morning.<\/p>\n

“The decision followed his refusal to comply with the IOC’s Guidelines on Athlete Expression. It was taken by the jury of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) based on the fact that the helmet he intended to wear was not compliant with the rules.<\/p>\n

“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has therefore decided with regret to withdraw his accreditation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games.”<\/p>\n

\"Mykhailo<\/p>\n

Mykhailo Heraskevych (l), the father of Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych, reacts after his son was disqualified.<\/p>\n

The statement continued: “Despite multiple exchanges and in-person meetings between the IOC and Mr Heraskevych, the last one this morning with IOC President Kirsty Coventry, he did not consider any form of compromise.<\/p>\n

“The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete. This is why the IOC sat down with him to look for the most respectful way to address his desire to remember his fellow athletes who have lost their lives following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The essence of this case is not about the message, it is about where he wanted to express it.”<\/p>\n

Heraskevych had insisted on Wednesday that he would wear the helmet or nothing, and in a post before the IOC announced its decision, he had appealed to be allowed to compete.<\/p>\n

He said: “I propose to end this scandal.<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine's<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych takes part in the skeleton men’s training session at Cortina Sliding Centre yesterday.<\/p>\n

“I never wanted a scandal with the IOC, and I did not create it. The IOC created it with its interpretation of the rules, which many view as discriminatory.<\/p>\n

“Although the IOC’s actions have made it possible to loudly speak about Ukrainian athletes who have been killed, at the same time the very fact of the scandal distracts a tremendous amount of attention away from the competitions themselves and from the athletes participating in them. Therefore, I once again propose to end the scandal.”<\/p>\n

He went on to request the ban on his helmet be lifted, the IOC to issue an apology to him and to provide generators for sports facilities in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The International Olympic Committee had ruled the helmet to be in contravention of regulations surrounding political statements in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,898,112],"class_list":["post-294118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news-ticker","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}