DN meets Stanislav Oroshkvutj in the finish area of the Olympic bobsleigh and skeleton track in Cortina. He is angry but composed. The IOC has just made the decision to disqualify his compatriot Vladyslav Heraskevytj.
Skeleton skaters refused to heed calls not to wear helmets with the faces of athletes and friends who died in the war. The IOC considers the helmet to be political propaganda and violates Olympic rules.
Oroshkvutj calls that’s nonsense.
– This is not about a political award, but about honoring athletes who are members of the Olympic family and Ukrainian sports. “Here are children and young people who took part in the Youth Olympics,” says Oroshkevytj, recalling that Heraskevytj is not the only Ukrainian case in which the IOC has intervened.
Freestyle skater Kateryna Kotsari said on Ukrainian television before the Games that she received an email from the IOC asking her not to wear a helmet with the words “Be brave like the Ukrainians” during the Olympics because it was seen as political propaganda. If she continued to use it, she would not be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
Kotsari says in the interview that a lack of experience and low self-confidence meant that she did not oppose the IOC like Heraskevytj did.
Stanislav Oroshkvuch thinks the world should know who the athletes Heraskevytj wants to honor are and shows DN a list.
Here are the 22:
Yevgeny Malyshev, biathlete
Dmytro Sharpar, figure skater
Pavlo Ishchenko, boxer
Maxim Galinichev, boxer
Andriy Kutsenko, cyclist
Alexey Loginov, ice hockey player
Karina Bakhur, kickboxer
Mykyta Kozubenko, swimmer
Roman Polishchuk, track and field athlete
Andriy Yaremenko, wrestler
Taras Shpuk, coach of the war disabled team
Fedor Epifanov, fencer
Kateryna Trojan, track and field athlete
Volodymyr Androstyuk, track and field athlete
Alexey Khabarov, competitive shooter
Daria Kurdel, competitive dancer
Ivan Kononenko, weightlifter and actor
Alina Peregudova, weightlifter
Kateryna Dyatjenko, rhythmic gymnast
Victoria Ivashko, judoka
Maria Lebid, competitive dancer
Nazar Zuy, boxer
Oroshkvutjwho works for the website tribuna.com can add another name to the list of Ukrainian athletes killed in the war.
He is a former elite cyclist and shows a picture of his coach Ivan Chomiv.
– He was killed by the Russians at the front in 2024, says Oroshkvutj.
Oroshkvutj believes that the IOC is acting inconsistently.
“During the Olympics there were Russian flags hanging in the stands here and they just ignored them,” he says.
