More Than Medals: The Milan-Cortina Olympics and Political Controversies That Stole the Spotlight

The Pro-Ukrainian Helmet

The Olympic Charter explicitly prohibits political demonstrations during the Games, including through athletes’ clothing and equipment. Nonetheless, athletes have repeatedly tested the boundaries of this rule.

At the Beijing Winter Games, Turkish ski jumper Fatih Arda İpcioğlu drew attention by competing on blue skis emblazoned with a white crescent and star. While officially a reference to Turkey’s national symbol, many interpreted it as a gesture of solidarity with China’s persecuted Uyghur minority, whose flag features the same emblem.

This time, however, there was no ambiguity. Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych wore a helmet bearing photographs of Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The IOC excluded him from competition, citing Article 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bans political, religious, or racial demonstrations at Olympic venues. Officials offered a compromise, allowing Heraskevych to wear a black armband instead, but he refused to abandon the commemorative helmet.

Despite a formal warning, he returned to training wearing the helmet and announced he would compete in it as well. Even IOC President Kirsty Coventry was unable to persuade him to change course.

“No one – no one, especially me – is disagreeing with the messaging. The messaging is a powerful message. It’s a message of remembrance. It’s a message of memory,” she said in a statement.

However, “it’s not about the messaging; it’s literally about the rules and the regulations,” she added. 

“In this case – the field of play – we have to be able to keep a safe environment for everyone. And sadly, that just means no messaging is allowed.”

Heraskevych appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but the tribunal rejected his claim. “Freedom of expression is guaranteed at the Olympic Games, but not on the field of play, which is a sacred principle,” CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reeb said.

Ukrainian authorities reacted with anger. “Future generations will recall this as a moment of shame,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

“The IOC has also systemically failed to confront the greatest abuser of international sports and the Olympic Charter – Russia. 

Politicians from the Baltic states stood for Heraskevych. “Remembering those killed by Russia’s war is not a violation, it is our moral duty,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna wrote on X. “When remembrance is punished, neutrality becomes complicity.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later awarded Heraskevych the Order of Freedom.

Still, the IOC spokesperson Mark Adams explained that rules of the Olympic movement must be obeyed, and Heraskevych was still allowed to wear a black armband, and speak to the press.

“He can, and we would encourage him, to express his grief, but let me be clear. It’s not the message, it’s the place that counts,” he said. 

“There are 130 conflicts going on in the world. We cannot have 130 different conflicts featured, however terrible they are, during the field of play, during the actual competition.”

Polish or Russian in Polish Colours?

Poland secured four medals at the Olympic Games. Three of these were in ski jumping, while Vladyslav Semmirunniy claimed the fourth in speed skating. 

Semmirunniy, 23, trains in Tomaszów Mazowiecki and speaks pretty fluent Polish, despite being born in Yekaterinburg, Russia. He left his homeland in 2023 to avoid military conscription. 

After unsuccessfully seeking to compete for Canada or the Netherlands, he made his way to Poland via Russia’s Kaliningrad oblast. He received Polish citizenship last year and has since learned the language, which he speaks fluently.

His transfer was delayed for months by Russia’s skating federation, which ignored requests to release him. The issue was resolved only after intervention by the International Skating Union, which issued Moscow with an ultimatum.

Semirunniy has spoken critically – though cautiously – about Russia’s war on Ukraine, citing concern for family members who remain in Russia.

While most Polish fans welcomed his medal, his background provoked anger among some Ukrainian activists. Natalia Panchenko accused him of previously representing “criminal Russia” and of visiting Russian-occupied Crimea in 2019.

“And then suddenly – click – you receive Polish citizenship in record time, just in time to compete in the Olympics as a ‘full-blooded Pole,’” she wrote.

“It’s easy to see only the medal and forget past choices,” she added.

“Of course Poland should celebrate the medal,” Panchenko said. “But we shouldn’t pretend history doesn’t exist. Sport doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A flag can change faster than a biography – but a biography cannot be erased.”

Her comments drew widespread reaction. Her stance was shared by popular abortion activist Marta Lempart, who called it “disgrace” that the Polish authorities, as she said, “are selling” the citizenship to Russians.

Lempart had previously sparked controversy when, during one of the demonstrations in Warsaw, she called all Russians “fascists” and crudely told a Russian teenager who opposed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to go back to Russia.

Still, most Internet users defended Semirunniy, praising his decision to refuse military service even if it forced him to leave the country.

“You cannot condemn every Russian simply for being Russian. He left (his homeland) because he wanted to pursue his dreams,” one of the commentators said, pointing out that Semirunnyi could have chosen Kazakhstan or another former Soviet republic, but instead he chose to live in Poland.

“I understand that his place of birth in the passport is not in Poland, but he lives in Poland, is in a Polish club, has a Polish girlfriend, speaks Polish, and knows the national anthem, ‘Mazurek Dąbrowskiego,’ which he has already sung in Tomaszów. Surely there are people who have issues with themselves, and those are probably the ones writing such things.”

The coach of the speed skaters, former Sochi bronze medalist Konrad Niedźwiedzki, who helped Semmirunniy adapt in Poland, also spoke out on the matter.

“I understand that his place of birth in the passport is not in Poland, but he lives in Poland, is in a Polish club, has a Polish girlfriend, speaks Polish, and knows the national anthem,” he noted. 

He added that people who condemn the Russian-born skater “must have issues with themselves.”