I will not betray them – Ukrainian vows to compete in banned war victim helmet

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych says he will wear a helmet featuring pictures of people who have been killed in the war with Russia in his Winter Olympics competition.

The International Olympic Committee has ruled the helmet is in contravention of regulations surrounding political statements in the field of play, instead offering the compromise of Heraskevych sporting a black armband when the event begins on Thursday.

But Heraskevych is determined to wear the painted helmet, which features athletes and children killed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite IOC spokesperson Mark Adams insisting rules will “ultimately be enforced”.

When asked if it was this helmet or nothing, he replied: “Yes.

“I will not betray these athletes. These athletes sacrificed their lives and because of this sacrifice, I am able to be here, so I will not betray them.”

The Ukrainian feels his helmet, which he sported in a training run on Wednesday, does not contravene regulations and said he would not have sufficient time to adjust to any replacement, if he had one.

He also criticised Adams for comments he made on Tuesday when saying the IOC understood athletes wanting to remember those who have died in the war before adding “it is the same for other conflicts around the world”.

“I want to come back to yesterday’s press conference of Mark Adams when he talked about conflicts in the world,” said Heraskevych.

“I don’t want to downsize any conflicts in the world, but conflicts, we can measure them. We can measure them by victims, we can measure them by destructions and there’s no other conflict which is close to the conflict that we have now in Ukraine.

“And to say it in so casual (a) manner, it’s very rude, I would say, towards Ukrainians.”

Heraskevych says the situation is a “big mess” and “if the IOC wants to blame someone, they should blame themselves in the first place”.

He was fastest in the training run he completed on Wednesday but admits a medal has lost its value to him in the wider context of the ongoing conflict.

He said: “A medal is always a great achievement for athletes – an Olympic medal is huge.

“My whole life I am training and it was, since my childhood, a big dream. But in this time of full-scale war, some things are really more important than medals.

“At this point, I would say that a medal is worthless in comparison to people’s lives and I believe also in comparison to the memory of these athletes.”

Matvii Bidnyi, Ukraine’s sports minister, urged the IOC to make a “fair decision” in Heraskevych’s case.

He said: “Vladyslav Heraskevych reminded the world of the truth about the price we pay every day for freedom and the will to be Ukrainians.

“We pay with our lives on the front line, in homes without electricity and in cold sports halls.

“Olympic values teach fairness and integrity – not compromises with one’s conscience. We expect the International Olympic Committee to take an honest stance and make fair decisions.”