{"id":585743,"date":"2026-02-12T23:41:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/585743\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:41:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:41:25","slug":"ukrainian-athlete-tests-the-olympic-rules-on-free-speech-and-gets-disqualified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/585743\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian athlete tests the Olympic rules on free speech \u2014 and gets disqualified"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych pushed at the limits of the International Olympic Committee\u2019s rules on freedom of expression, and the global sports body pushed back. That created an emotional and historic moment of Winter Games<\/a> lore.<\/p>\n

Heraskevych insisted on wearing a helmet in competition with the images of Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed during Russia\u2019s nearly 4-year-old full-scale invasion of their country. By refusing to back down, he was disqualified from his Olympic event<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

He defied a last-minute plea by IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was in tears after their early morning meeting at the sliding center in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo. Although disqualified from the competition, Heraskevych was not expelled from the Olympics, unlike previous athletes who staged prominent protests.<\/p>\n

A look at the Olympic rules and previous protests:<\/p>\n

Heraskevych and the Olympic rules<\/p>\n

Heraskevych had freely worn his preferred helmet on training runs, and the IOC told him he could bring it to media areas on race days.<\/p>\n

For the actual race, however, he refused to wear an approved helmet that complied with IOC rules designed to keep the field of competition clean of political messages. Heraskevych also refused proposed IOC compromises of wearing a black armband or displaying the helmet once he was off the course.<\/p>\n

Political neutrality is a foundational principle of the Olympic Charter,<\/a> a 108-page document of 61 articles that effectively serves as the constitution of the IOC and the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Rule 50 states: \u201cNo kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Rule 40 states that athletes comply with \u201cconditions of participation established by the IOC,\u201d including where and how free expression can be displayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not at all about the message,\u201d IOC spokesman Mark Adams said at a daily news conference dominated by the helmet issue. \u201cIt is simply about the sanctity of the field of play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports law expert Antoine Duval told The Associated Press it was \u201ca huge move\u201d for the IOC to cite Rule 40 on free expression and not the one on political propaganda. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is demanding that athletes are like absolute robots,\u201d said Duval of the Asser Institute in the Netherlands, suggesting future Olympians could face scrutiny over their tattoos.<\/p>\n

Heraskevych\u2019s Olympic history<\/p>\n

Heraskevych, 27, is at his third Winter Games<\/a> and the second under the shadow of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, which began Feb. 24, 2022 \u2014 four days after the end of the Beijing Winter Games.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 11 of that year, Heraskevych completed his races in China and held a small sign for the TV cameras<\/a> in the blue and yellow colors of his national flag with the slogan, \u201cNo War in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IOC took no action against him, deciding this was \u201ca general call for peace\u201d and not an explicitly political statement.<\/p>\n

He returned to the Olympics this year, with no end to the war in sight, and he again tried to state his views.<\/p>\n

Neutral politics, protecting athletes<\/p>\n

The IOC says its athlete expression rules were drafted after consulting with officially recognized athlete groups, including some from countries where they face political interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot have athletes having pressure put on them by their political masters to make messaging during the competition,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n

The risks of the competition being overshadowed by political statements could be even greater at the larger Summer Games like those in 2028 in Los Angeles, when the IOC wants 206 national Olympic teams, plus a refugee team, to take part.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of the Middle East, think of Africa, think of South America, if everyone is allowed to express themselves in that way beyond a black armband,\u201d Adams said \u201cYou can see where that would lead to a chaotic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IOC says its athlete expression rules were drafted after consulting with officially recognized athlete groups, including some from countries where they face political interference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot have athletes having pressure put on them by their political masters to make messaging during the competition,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n

A regular concern at Summer Games in recent years has been the issue of some athletes seeming to be pulled from competition<\/a> to avoid facing an opponent from Israel.<\/p>\n

The last major review<\/a> of protest guidelines was overseen by Coventry while she was an IOC athlete representative ahead of the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.<\/p>\n

Stricter rules were in place but eased just weeks before those Games<\/a>, in which women\u2019s soccer teams took a knee<\/a> before the first whistle to support racial justice.<\/p>\n

Other incidents by athletes<\/p>\n

Heraskevych\u2019s case has been compared to U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov<\/a>, who made an emotional tribute in Milan this week. After his skate, he displayed a photo of himself as a child with his parents, who were killed in January 2025 when American Airlines Flight 5342 struck a military helicopter<\/a> on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and fell into the icy Potomac River.<\/p>\n

Adams said Naumov\u2019s display was \u201ca spontaneous show of emotion\u201d after his event.<\/p>\n

At the Paris Olympics 18 months ago, Afghan refugee Manizha Talash competed in the breaking competition wearing a cape<\/a> with the slogan, \u201cFree Afghan Women.\u201d She was disqualified by the World DanceSport Federation.<\/p>\n

Also in Paris, the opening ceremony saw a memorial gesture<\/a> in which Algerian athletes tossed red roses from their boat into the Seine at the spot where in 1961 dozens of protesters died in a police crackdown. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the most famous demonstration came at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City when U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood atop the medal podium after the 200 meters race. Shoeless and with their heads bowed, the two Black Americans each raised a gloved fist<\/a> to protest racial injustice. They were expelled from the Games but allowed to keep their medals.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s impending return<\/p>\n

The helmet issue has put Ukraine back in the Olympic news at what could be the last games before Russia returns to the IOC fold. Russian athletes and teams have faced varying restrictions on competing \u2014 without their national identity of flag, anthem and colors \u2014 at each Olympics in the past decade because of doping scandals and the war.<\/p>\n

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee<\/a> in October 2023 for breaking the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports councils in four regions of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed. The legal dispute is under review, and the IOC advised sports governing bodies in December<\/a> to look at restoring Russian youth teams to international competitions with their full identity.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi has urged the IOC<\/a> not to make concessions before the war ends.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych pushed at the limits of the International Olympic Committee\u2019s rules…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":585744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[224667,191963,253712,411,84,57,51,251249,57987,59238,253357,70415,50,44831,235115,62,52,107],"class_list":["post-585743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-antoine-duval","tag-censorship","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-general-news","tag-headlines","tag-john-carlos","tag-kirsty-coventry","tag-mark-adams","tag-maxim-naumov","tag-milan","tag-news","tag-olympic-games","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116060309569177747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}