IOC: Eyes Wide Shut while Ukrainian Olympians Show True Grit

Ukrainian luger Olena Smaha displays her comment on her glove: Remembrance is not a violation!

Olympians at this year’s Winter Games in Milan are experiencing the International Olympic Committee’s duplicitous approach to Russian athletes while Ukrainian Olympians show that they can’t be held back from paying tribute to their fallen comrades.

While Russian and Belarussian athletes have been officially banned from the Games due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarusia’s support, a total 13 Russian and 7 Belarusian athletes are participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics, competing under the banner of "Individual Neutral Athletes" (AIN) – which means that they not really in Milan (wink, wink). That does not include those athletes with Russian-sounding names who emigrated to the West and adopted their new homeland’s citizenship.Ukrainian athletes had their own grievance against officials.

Snowboarder Roland Fischnaller has a Russian flag (to the right of center) on his helmet.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych said on February 10 that he has been barred from using his custom helmet at the 2026 Winter Olympics because it honors Ukrainian athletes killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Heraskevych said the International Olympic Committee prohibited him from wearing the helmet during official training sessions and competitions after it was shown in initial runs on the Olympic track.

“A decision that simply breaks my heart,” Heraskevych wrote on Instagram. “The feeling that the IOC is betraying those athletes who were part of the Olympic movement, not allowing them to be honored on the sports arena where these athletes will never be able to step again.”

The helmet features portraits of Ukrainian athletes killed during Russia’s murderous full-scale invasion. In an earlier post, Heraskevych said the design was meant to honor only a small portion of the many athletes who have died since the war began.

“It is unfair, and these people should not have left us at such a young age,” he wrote. “With this I want to pay tribute to these individuals and to their families. The world needs to know the true price of Ukrainian freedom.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media to praise Heraskevych for wearing the helmet, thanking him “for reminding the world of the price of our struggle.”

“This truth cannot be inconvenient, inappropriate, or called a ‘political demonstration at a sporting event.’ It is a reminder to the whole world of what modern Russia is,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“And this is what reminds every one of the global role of sports and the historic mission of the Olympic movement itself – it is all about peace and for the sake of life. Ukraine remains faithful to this. Russia proves otherwise.”

Heraskevych told CNN he will defy the IOC and wear his helmet featuring images of athletes killed during the war in Ukraine.

The IOC earlier expressed understanding for Heraskevych’s situation but said that the helmet “contravenes” the governing body’s guidelines on political statements, offering to allow him to wear a black armband in commemoration instead.

In response, Heraskevych said at a press conference that he would wear the helmet regardless of the guidelines.

“Yes,” the slider said in reply to a question asking if he would defy the IOC’s decision. “If the IOC betrays these athletes, I will not betray them.”

“I wear this helmet two days ago, yesterday, today. I will wear it tomorrow and I will wear it for the race day,” Heraskevych told CNN’s Amanda Davies.

“These people sacrificed their lives and because of that, I am able to be here today. I’m able to be at the Olympics, and I will not betray them.”

The athletes featured on the helmet are: weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diver and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel.

“Some things are more important than sports,” he told CNN. “To pay tribute to them, to people who sacrificed their lives because of this sacrifice, I’m able today to be here, and for me it’s important to pay tribute to them and pay honor to their families.”

In a video posted on social media following his training session, Heraskevych — who carried his country’s flag at the opening ceremony — said Toshio Tsurunaga, the IOC representative in charge of communications between athletes, national Olympic committees and the IOC, had gone to the Athletes’ Village to inform him of the decision.

“A decision that simply breaks my heart. The feeling that the IOC is betraying those athletes who were part of the Olympic movement, not allowing them to be honored on the sports arena where these athletes will never be able to step again,” he said in the video.

“Despite precedents in modern times and in the past when the IOC allowed such tributes, this time they decided to set special rules just for Ukraine.”

And let’s not forget Ukrainian luger Anton Dukach who after his run, sat up on his sled, looked into the WNBC-TV camera and declared in Ukrainian Слава Україні; Героям Слава! Glory to Ukraine; Glory to the Heroes! Thank God the IOC didn’t hear him. What a patriot!

Three cheers for the Ukrainian Olympians!