The punishment for wearing a photo helmet has shaken the corners of modern Olympianism
The IOC has expelled Ukrainian skeletonist Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Milan-Cortina Games for competing with a helmet with photos of Ukrainian athletes killed in the Russian war, considering that it violated the rules of political neutrality.
The COI has expelled Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Milan Games for wearing a helmet with photos of athletes killed by Russia.
The case of Heraskevych has revived the debate on how far political neutrality should go in sport and how these rules are applied in conflict contexts.
The main controversial precedents of the Olympic Games
Stockholm 1912: American Jim Thorpe was stripped of pentathlon and decathlon medals for competing as a baseball professional, strictly applying the rules of amateurism.
Mexico 1968: Tommie Smith and John Carlos, speed athletes, were expelled after raising their fist on the podium to support the Black Power movement, which the IOC describes as political propaganda.
Sidney 2000 (Paralympics): The Spanish basketball team for intellectual disabled people was disqualified when they discovered that ten out of twelve players were not disabled.
Beijing 2008: The COI banned Spanish athletes from wearing a black crepe in memory of the victims of the Spanair accident, applying the rule that vetoes symbols or political messages at the Games.
London 2012: Ipar Korea was excluded from Olympic gymnastics after detecting that its gymnasts were falsifying ages. In football, South Korean Park Jong-woo was excluded from the medal ceremony for exhibiting a bannerproclaiming sovereignty over the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands.
Tokyo 2020: Olympic Charter Rule 50, which prohibits political or religious expressions, was returned to the center of the world in a context marked by global protests against racism.
2022 Qatar World Cup: Germany's selection protestedthe ban on rainbow bracelet , covering its mouth in the official photo, a gesture that opened an international debate on freedom of expression and neutrality in sport.
Paris 2024: Manizha Talash, an Afghan athlete, was disqualified for showing a cloak with the message "Free Afghan Woman." The Serbian judoka Nemanja Majdov was punished for perjurybefore competing, strictly applying the neutrality rule.
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