“We have disqualified our own reputation”: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to the scandalous decision of the Olympic Committee regarding Geraskevych

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga commented on the International Olympic Committee’s disqualification of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Geraskevych from the 2026 Olympics. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that such a decision negatively affects the IOC’s reputation.

He wrote about this in X.

The International Olympic Committee has decided to disqualify Vladislav Geraskevych for wearing a “memory helmet” during the competition. It featured images of Ukrainian athletes who died as a result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Andriy Sybiga stated that the IOC’s decision is erroneous and damages the organization’s authority.

“The IOC disqualified not a Ukrainian athlete, but its own reputation. Future generations will remember this as a moment of shame. If the Olympic Credo says that “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not victory, but participation,” then the International Olympic Committee completely betrayed it by not allowing Vladyslav Geraskevych to participate, and betrayed 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed by Russia,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga.

The IOC stated that the use of a helmet with relevant images is contrary to the rules of the Olympic Games.

By the way, Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Geraskevych was disqualified before the start of the competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

We will remind you that Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Geraskevych went to training on the Olympic track wearing a “memory helmet” with images of athletes who died during the war with Russia.

As reported, the International Olympic Committee has banned skeleton athlete Vladislav Geraskevych from competing at the Olympic Games wearing a helmet with the image of Ukrainian athletes who died as a result of the full-scale invasion of Russia.

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