Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych is the most important athlete at the Olympics right now

Veteran sportswriter Richard Deitsch takes an international view of the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee is not an organization that generally begs, but they are begging Vladyslav Heraskevych. They are begging the Ukrainian skeleton racer not to compete in a customized helmet showing the faces of more than 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed since Russian invaded Ukraine in 2022. 

The IOC has said such an act would violate the Olympic rule on political statements and that the helmet would not be allowed in competition. Heraskevych wore the helmet for training Tuesday and Wednesday. 

"We will reiterate the many, many opportunities that he has to express his grief," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said Wednesday. "As we discussed before, he can do so on social media and press conferences in the mixed zone. So, we will try to talk to him about that and try to convince him … There are 130 conflicts going on in the world. We cannot have 130 different conflicts featured, no matter how terrible they are, on the field of play, during the actual competition.”

Heraskevych’s story is a mirror — it reflects the eternal deception of how sports and politics do not intersect. Of course they intersect, and they intersected when the IOC awarded the 2014 Winter Games to Vladimir Putin. 

Will Ukrainian skeleton racer still wear his banned helmet in competition?

It is a fluid situation and one that could change by the time you read this. Heat 1 of the men’s skeleton is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. The second heat begins at 5:08 a.m. ET. The gold medal run comes Friday.

Heraskevych did not enter these Games, his third Olympics, as a gold-medal favourite, but hitting the podium is a real possibility. He was ranked