Skeleton events at the Games were set to begin at 9:30 a.m. local time in Cortina d’Ampezzo. Heraskevych, 27, had been scheduled to compete but was barred from the start.
You could argue them letting Roland Fischnaller wear a helmet with the Russian tricolor was political too. Whatever the athlete’s reason.
The fact is the IOC have a history of cracking down in dumb ways that support some sides over others.
The IOC claims to be politically neutral but then you have the president of the IOC giving speeches about solidarity and a vision for the world coming together through sport. That’s political right there in and of itself whether they like it or not.
You don’t see a difference between a speech about solidarity and portraying war victims on your helmet?
There’ll be people applauding when you show up covered in pictures of the right dead people, but I don’t think it’s a very good idea to turn the olympics into a parade for such things.
What if an Armenian wears images of genocide victims when competing against someone from Turkey? Someone from Turkey wearing ancestors genocided by Russia? Someone from Russia with those genocided by Ukrainian nazi collaborators?
You can call all of these cases morally just but what good would it do to add that shit to the olympics?
Sadly for this guy, there has to be a line somewhere.
Its reasonable that athletes cant compete wearing politically incendiary motifs.
You could argue that these fallen comrades are not political, but you could also argue that they are.
Allowing him to show the helmet before, after, and during press interviews seems like a reasonable compromise to me.
You could argue them letting Roland Fischnaller wear a helmet with the Russian tricolor was political too. Whatever the athlete’s reason.
The fact is the IOC have a history of cracking down in dumb ways that support some sides over others.
The IOC claims to be politically neutral but then you have the president of the IOC giving speeches about solidarity and a vision for the world coming together through sport. That’s political right there in and of itself whether they like it or not.
You don’t see a difference between a speech about solidarity and portraying war victims on your helmet?
There’ll be people applauding when you show up covered in pictures of the right dead people, but I don’t think it’s a very good idea to turn the olympics into a parade for such things.
I really don’t see this as some sort of slippery slope. This is a clear war of aggression with no moral ambiguity.
What if an Armenian wears images of genocide victims when competing against someone from Turkey? Someone from Turkey wearing ancestors genocided by Russia? Someone from Russia with those genocided by Ukrainian nazi collaborators?
You can call all of these cases morally just but what good would it do to add that shit to the olympics?
Just reddit mods on steroids.
If it was a relative who died defending from a burglary, it wouldn’t be political, let’s not abuse the word.