Disqualified Ukrainian skeleton racer given medal of freedom for selfless service

The Star

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Feb 13 awarded Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was disqualified from the Olympic skeleton competition over his "helmet of remembrance" depicting athletes killed since Russia's invasion, with the medal of freedom.   The 27-year-old, who had been training in Italy with the helmet, was barred by the International Olympic Committee the day of the competition on Feb 12 after both parties failed to break an impasse.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00...of the National Olympic League of Ukraine,

00:02a skeletonist,

00:03President of Ukraine,

00:04Theodore of Zaletsky.

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00:49For the right Ukrainian position, I'm very proud to you and to all our Olympics, who supported you, supported your

01:02position.

01:03I always love it very concretely, very straight.

01:16It's huge and I like to share it with these athletes and I think they deserve it even more because

01:24of their sacrifice we are able to compete in Olympics and our whole team able to compete in Olympics.

01:30And I truly believe that we are able to be at the Olympics these days and don't have a war

01:37in Europe also because of their sacrifice.

01:40It was purely a discriminational decision by IOC and I should be there.

01:46But at the same time I understand that this scandal had united people around the world about our problem and

01:56about the sacrifice of these great athletes and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal.

02:02Especially, I know that I didn't violate any rules. I'm not violating Olympic Charter or something else. I really value

02:12Olympic Charter.

02:13My main goal of Olympics was always peace and humanity. And if we talk about tribute to the athletes, it's

02:21humanity.

02:21And I don't understand why we had this situation, why we had this scandal, but definitely we will fight for

02:30our truth.

02:33Good afternoon again.

02:37The Add-Occ Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport rendered a decision today at 5.15 more or

02:43less for the application by skeleton athlete Vladislav Gerasiewicz from Ukraine against the International Bobsleigh in Skeleton Federation and the

02:52International Olympic Committee.

02:54The Cass Ad-Occ Division dismissed the application and found that freedom of expression is guaranteed at the Olympic Games,

03:03but not on the field of play, which is a sacred principle.

03:07The sole arbitrator for this matter heard today's arguments and is bound by the rules of the IOC Athlete Expression

03:15Guidelines.

03:16She stated that she is fully sympathetic to Mr. Gerasiewicz's commemoration and to his attempt to raise awareness for the

03:24grief and devastation suffered by the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian athletes because of the war.

03:32These IOC guidelines state that freedom of expression is a fundamental right of any athlete competing in the Olympic Games,

03:40but limits the right to express views during competitions on the field of play.

03:45The sole arbitrator notes that the goal of this is to maintain the focus of the Olympic Games on performances

03:52and sport, a common interest of all athletes who have worked for years to appear in the Olympic Games, who

03:59deserve undivided attention for their sporting success.

04:02Let's go.

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