Ukraine’s Heraskevych criticises IOC neutral policy, plans to use Games as platform

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 3 - Ukrainian skeleton athlete and flag bearer Vladyslav Heraskevych said the International Olympic Committee’s policy on Russian and Belarusian athletes was misguided and that he intends to use the Games stage to draw attention to the war in Ukraine.

“From the first days of our full-scale war, I was always told that I'm not against athletes themselves, I'm against the spreading of propaganda. And I believe that verification system, verification criteria are not enough to (vet the athletes) as neutral,” Heraskevych, who at the Beijing Winter Games flashed a ‘NO WAR IN UKRAINE' sign days before Russia’s invasion, told Reuters on Tuesday.

“I believe that the approach of the IOC is not right in this question,” Heraskevych added, pointing to the example of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which has allowed Darya Dolidovich, a Belarusian-born biathlete, to compete in World Cup races with the IBU’s refugee team.

Four years after escaping sanctions, with the IOC considering he had not violated rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bars athletes from political, religious or racial demonstrations or propaganda at Olympic venues, Heraskevych said he wanted to remind the world about Ukraine.

“We are planning not to violate IOC law,” he said. “But definitely we will use our platform."

Heraskevych said allowing athletes to compete as neutrals despite links to occupied territories or expressions of support for the war undermined the principle of neutrality.

“We have, in many cases, athletes getting ready for competitions in occupied territories,” he said. “On one side, the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the IOC because of that. But from here athletes are able to compete, and they even consider themselves neutral.”

Russian and Belarusian officials have repeatedly condemned restrictions on their athletes as discriminatory and politically motivated, arguing that sport should remain separate from international conflicts.

Heraskevych, however, believes that an athlete cannot be considered as neutral when he or she benefits from government funding.

“For me, it's also questionable how you can consider an athlete neutral if he is fully financed by the government, if he is somehow attached to the federation, national federation, which is also part of propaganda,” he added.

He said athletes who had fled Russia or Belarus and opposed the war should instead be allowed to compete under a refugee banner.

"It should be a refugee team, so they should be separated from the government. They shouldn't have any monetary ties to the Russian government, to the Belarusian government,” he said.

The IOC created the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016, allowing displaced athletes to compete under the Olympic flag, but the team has appeared only at Summer Games.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, athletes from Russia and Belarus were largely barred from international sport, but the International Olympic Committee has since backed their gradual return under strict conditions. REUTERS