Skeleton-Ukrainian athlete Heraskevych's appeal for reinstatement dismissed

MILAN, Feb 13 : The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday dismissed an appeal by Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to be reinstated in the Milano Cortina Olympics after he was disqualified over his “helmet of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality.

"The CAS ad Hoc division dismissed the application and found that 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, reading from a statement following an eight-hour hearing

Heraskevych was seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport's highest court ahead of the final two runs set for Friday evening.

In a statement, CAS said the IOC guidelines for athletes' expression in the Games were fair.

"The Sole Arbitrator considers these 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 case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics.

(Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Hugh Lawson)