Disqualified however not forgotten : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4809x3206+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F72%2Fca%2F096accd04910988904e43e84d592%2Fgettyimages-2260878952.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4809x3206+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F72%2Fca%2F096accd04910988904e43e84d592%2Fgettyimages-2260878952.jpg" class="img" alt="Vladyslav Heraskevych of Team Ukraine participates during Men's Training Heat 3 on day four of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Cortina Sliding Centre on February 10, 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy." fetchpriority="high"/> CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY - FEBRUARY 10: Vladyslav Heraskevych of Group Ukraine participates throughout Males's Coaching Warmth 3 on day 4 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic video games at Cortina Sliding Centre on February 10, 2026 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Al Bello/Getty Photos/Getty Photos Europe cover caption

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Al Bello/Getty Photos/Getty Photos Europe Vladyslav Heraskevych of the Ukrainian skeleton sled racing staff was disqualified from competing within the Olympic Video games this week due to what was on his helmet.

Not some profane slogan or cartoon, however photos of the faces of Ukrainian athletes and coaches who've been killed in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"I imagine they should be right here due to their sacrifice," he advised reporters. "I need to honor them and I need to honor their households."

However the Worldwide Olympic Committee stated that Heraskevych's helmet violated their tips in opposition to political speech, or what they name, "athlete expression."

"What do you take into account as 'expression'?" Heraskevych advised reporters. "Many athletes right here have helmets with completely different paints and I imagine it is also a type of expression. Some athletes have nationwide symbols, it is also an expression."

IOC President Kirsty Coventry got here out to the follow monitor to ship her determination to Vladyslav Heraskevych personally and he or she spoke to reporters by means of tears. "Nobody, particularly me, is disagreeing with the messaging," she stated. "The problem was to discover a resolution for the sector of play. Sadly we have not been capable of finding that resolution."

I've lined a few Olympic Video games. However probably the most mesmerizing efficiency I ever noticed was on a small display as I lined a warfare.

Katarina Witt, who had gained a determine skating gold medal on the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, got here again for the 1994 video games in Lillehammer, Norway to carry out a program to "The place Have All of the Flowers Gone". It was an attraction for peace, in tribute to a Sarajevo that was besieged.

I watched on a TV in a truck of the European Broadcast Union, the place we got here to file our studies in a metropolis that was chilly, darkish, and with out energy. Engineers had opened the truck so a small crowd of Sarajevans might watch Witt's beautiful efficiency. Tears glistened within the chilly. Katarina Witt completed seventh place however the reminiscence of her routine that evening is imperishable.