CORTINA D’AMPEZZO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defended a Winter Olympian’s right to wear a helmet featuring athletes killed during the war with Russia after skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych said the IOC banned it at the Games.
Heraskevych wore the helmet during a training session in Cortina and had intended to use the Games in Italy to help maintain international pressure on Russia.
The 27-year-old said in a social media post on Monday that the International Olympic Committee had banned his custom helmet — which has portraits of Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s 2022 invasion — from training and competition.
The IOC has yet to publicly confirm that.
Heraskevych, who was Ukraine’s flag bearer, said the decision “simply breaks my heart.”
