{"id":154623,"date":"2026-02-13T12:24:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chainrumors.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/he-is-a-hero-to-me-artist-speaks-out-after-ukrainian-athlete-barred-from-winter-olympics-for-commemorative-helmet-the-art-newspaper\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:08:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:08:03","slug":"he-is-a-hero-to-me-artist-speaks-out-after-ukrainian-athlete-barred-from-winter-olympics-for-commemorative-helmet-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chainrumors.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/he-is-a-hero-to-me-artist-speaks-out-after-ukrainian-athlete-barred-from-winter-olympics-for-commemorative-helmet-the-art-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He’s a hero to me\u2019: artist speaks out after Ukrainian athlete barred from Winter Olympics for commemorative helmet – The Artwork Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was barred from the Winter Olympics on Thursday for refusing to desert his \u201chelmet of reminiscence\u201d, which featured imagery honouring athletes killed in the course of the battle with Russia. The artist behind the photographs, Iryna Prots, tells The Artwork Newspaper<\/em> that she feels \u201canger, rage, ache\u201d on the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC)\u2019s resolution.<\/p>\n

Prots, talking amid persevering with missile and drone strikes\u2014which have led to vitality blackouts in Ukraine and left many within the nation with out warmth\u2014says that banning Heraskevych and the helmet violates the Olympic spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI consider that they didn’t deal with Vladyslav pretty,\u201d she says. \u201cThe helmet was devoted not simply to athletes, however to Olympians, former or future, whose lives have been taken by battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reminiscence helmet options\u00a0portraits of 21 athletes<\/g><\/svg><\/span>, together with nine-year outdated Viktoria Ivashko, a judo athlete who was killed together with her mom in 2022 by a Russian strike on Kyiv, and Maksym Halinichev, 22, a Youth Olympics silver medallist boxer killed within the Luhansk area in March 2023.<\/p>\n

Carrying the helmet, Prots says, was \u201ca really brave act. He might have taken one other helmet and brought half within the video games,\u201d she continues\u2014referencing IOC officers\u2019 explanations that that they had sought a compromise<\/g><\/svg><\/span> with the athlete, suggesting he might put on a black armband or ribbon as an alternative. \u201cHe’s a hero to me\u2026 My coronary heart breaks that as an alternative of help, he obtained punishment for Reminiscence<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prots explains she is a household buddy of Heraskevych, and has recognized him since he was a boy. He had come to her, she says, \u201cnot as an athlete to an artist\u201d however \u201cas an individual to an individual\u201d, with a want to commemorate Ukrainian athletes who had fallen within the battle. \u201cHe stated, \u2018I would like them to be with me. Those that didn’t attain this begin\u2019. And I understood: this won’t be a drawing; will probably be a presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each sport and artwork are on the centre of Ukraine\u2019s identification, Prots provides, who is thought for her work<\/g><\/svg><\/span> of flowering fields within the Tuscan countryside, which she has visited typically. \u201cSport is concerning the physique and spirit. Artwork is concerning the soul. As we speak, Ukraine is defending each. We’re preventing not just for territory. We’re preventing for the suitable to recollect. For the suitable to be ourselves. For the suitable to dwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heraskevych has chronicled his Olympic odyssey and his intentions with the helmet in Instagram posts. In posts main as much as his suspension, he referred to as out<\/g><\/svg><\/span> what he describes a the\u00a0\u201cIOC\u2019s double requirements\u201d, noting that at this yr\u2019s opening ceremony, Jared Firestone wore a kippah with the names of Israeli athletes killed in the course of the Munich Bloodbath<\/g><\/svg><\/span> of 1972.<\/p>\n

In a press release on 12 February after Heraskevych\u2019s disqualification, the IOC stated that it had tried to seek out with him \u201cprobably the most respectful approach to tackle his want to recollect his fellow athletes who’ve misplaced their lives following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine\u201d, however he\u00a0had chosen to \u201covertly defy the IOC\u2019s Tips on Athletic Expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated\u00a0in a press release on X<\/g><\/svg><\/span>:<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank our athlete for his clear stance. His helmet, bearing the portraits of fallen Ukrainian athletes, is about honour and remembrance. It’s a reminder to the entire world of what Russian aggression is and the price of preventing for independence. And on this, no rule has been damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday (13 February) in Milan, as he ready for a listening to on his case on the Court docket of Arbitration for Sports activities,\u00a0Heraskevych stated in one other submit<\/g><\/svg><\/span>: \u201cI’m assured that I didn’t violate any IOC guidelines, so I think about my disqualification completely unjustified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heritage shirt sparks controversy<\/h4>\n

In the meantime, German politicians and media retailers have criticised the IOC\u2019s resolution to promote a T-shirt that includes paintings referring to the 1936 Berlin Video games\u2014which was held in Nazi Germany\u2014by way of its on-line store. The shirt depicts a person sporting a laurel wreath, with the Olympic rings above him, whereas an Brandenburg Gate\u00a0can be featured. The Nazis used the 1936 Olympics as a possibility to advertise their regime and beliefs.<\/p>\n

In a press release to The Artwork Newspaper, <\/em>an IOC spokesperson stated: \u201cWhereas we after all acknowledge the historic problems with \u2018Nazi propaganda\u2019 associated to the Berlin 1936 Olympic Video games, we should additionally do not forget that the Video games in Berlin noticed\u00a04,483<\/g><\/svg><\/span>\u00a0athletes\u00a0from\u00a049 nations<\/g><\/svg><\/span>\u00a0compete in 149 medal occasions. A lot of them shocked the world with their athletic achievements, together with [the Black US track and field athlete] Jesse Owens.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n