‘Price of dignity’ says Ukrainian athlete banned over helmet

https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/c309pj8d8qqo

17 Comments

  1. ChiefWiggumsprogeny on

    Seems dumb that there’s no compromise that could be found, I wonder what options were discussed. It does seem rather harsh on the surface.

  2. Unfortunately if you let this athlete honor good dead people you’d also have to let a potential MAGA American have a Charlie Kirk helmet if they wanted and I don’t want that

  3. As someone who doesn’t care much about the Olympics, I would not have seen the helmet if there was no drama around it. 

    As far as I’m concerned, he won the race by default. Good for him for not backing down.

  4. So IOC has an issue with remembering and honouring dead athletes? Or is it just because of the way and by who they were killed?

  5. I’m sorry he was banned. But I’m glad they kicked up a fuss. The Streisand effect is doing all the work here.

  6. >The IOC added that Heraskevych had been banned for contravening athlete guidelines, rather than because of displaying political propaganda.

    Press X to doubt

  7. The Olympics simply do not want athletes to use their platform for social political causes. Every county around the world has causes near and dear to them and the Olympics don’t want the games to be turned into a protest venue. It is a show of athletics.

  8. What a joke. Who cares what Russians think? They are apparently the ones who noticed the helmet and threw a fit it looks like.

  9. Dignity is an incredibly important value to Ukrainians. It’s the most important reason for why the Ukrainian people are so mentally resilient despite Russia’s demoralisation attacks

  10. The IOC fields a refugee team. A refugee, by its very definition, is political. So clearly the IOC has no problem inserting itself in politics. Just the athletes aren’t allowed to.

  11. >The International Olympic Committee’s decision to disqualify Vlad Heraskevych could be studied in universities—at philosophy departments—as an example of refined, boundless cynicism and Pharisaic hypocrisy.

    >Let’s unpack this bouquet. Vlad is being disqualified because his helmet bears the images of fallen Ukrainian athletes. There is no inscription saying Russia killed them. The IOC sees “politics” not even in what is shown, but in what is not explicitly stated—yet known, first and foremost, to themselves. They know those athletes were killed by their Russian friends and patrons; it makes them uncomfortable—so Vlad must go.

    >We are in a situation where the victim of a crime is told: if you cry out, we will be forced to escort you out of our respectable society. Even if you do not call for help, even if you do not curse, even if you do not name the criminal—the mere fact of your cry, your tears, or your grief will be deemed by us as not comme il faut, as an attempt to ruin the celebration—because we know who is really torturing you. And you will be sent away.

    >And this is not some trick by a lone psychopath; this is the official position of a major international organization, voiced from the highest podiums in the world.

    >By the lowest people in the world.

  12. Dependent_Key5423 on

    It’s wild that the only reason most of us even know about this helmet is because Russia threw a tantrum over it. The athlete absolutely made the right call by standing his ground. This whole situation just gave his message more visibility than it ever would have had otherwise.