International Olympic Committee secures big win on athlete speech limits ahead of 2028 LA Games

MILAN (AP) — The International Olympic Committee secured a major victory for its rules on athlete speech and expression Friday when a Ukrainian skeleton athlete lost his appeal against disqualification from the Milan Cortina Games.

Vladyslav Heraskevych, who had been a medal contender heading into his sliding event, wanted to compete while wearing a “helmet of memory” covered with portraits of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed during four years of war with Russia.

The IOC said no and eventually disqualified Heraskevych. The Ukrainian appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but he was denied again.

The verdict reinforces limits on how much the IOC will tolerate athletes seeking to make statements in the field of play that go beyond sports.

Heraskevych did win sympathy and respect from IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was in tears after their early-morning trackside meeting Thursday in Cortina d’Ampezzo. But his courtroom loss on Friday eases the IOC’s legal path with the Los Angeles Summer Games looming in two years and beyond.

Olympic rules

The helmet, which had no words or slogans, seemed designed to comply with Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bans political statements on the field of play and medals podium.

The IOC let Heraskevych wear the helmet for training runs but insisted he could not wear it during his four scheduled competition runs. He was told he could display the helmet in media interview areas and was offered the compromise of wearing a black armband at all times.

Heraskevych refused and took his disqualification to CAS, an IOC-backed sports court based in Switzerland that has special tribunals set up at each Olympics.

The IOC, however, did not invoke Rule 50. That could have been harder to prove when Heraskevych’s helmet did not explicitly criticize or even name Russia.

Instead, the IOC pivoted to its Athlete Expression Guidelines, which are covered by Rule 40 in the charter and were drafted in consultation with athlete groups. The guidelines seek to regulate freedom of speech at the Olympic s.

“The focus at the Olympic Games must remain on athletes’ performances, sport and the international unity and harmony that the Olympic Games seek to advance,” the five-page document states.

The IOC repeatedly said this week the guidelines also protect athletes who might otherwise be pressured in their home countries to carry political messaging against their beliefs into Olympic arenas.

The CAS ruling

Details of the ruling, written by a single judge, were published five hours after the hearing. Judge Annett Rombach of Germany completely upheld the IOC's legal position that Heraskevych was in breach of expression guidelines for insisting to wear the helmet during his competition.

She found "these limitations reasonable and proportionate,” the court said.

The IOC guidelines “provide a reasonable balance between athletes’ interests to express their views, and athletes’ interests to receive undivided attention for their sporting performance on the field of play,” the court said.

Rombach “is bound by such proportionate rules and has no means to override them,” the court said, adding she was “fully sympathetic to Mr. Heraskevych’s commemoration.”

She also supported the decision of the IOC to give back the athlete’s accreditation and not expel him from the Olympics. The 27-year-old Heraskevych was instead expected to head to Munich and meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who on Thursday awarded him a state honor.

An attorney for Heraskevych, Yevhen Pronin, wrote in his Telegram channel that “this case was much broader than an individual dispute.”

“It concerned the freedom of expression of athletes, the limits of discretion of sports bodies, and the very understanding of Olympic values,” he wrote.

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AP journalist Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed to this report.

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