Olympian flashes 'No War in Ukraine' sign after competing
Source: Associated Press
By TIM REYNOLDS a few seconds ago
BEIJING (AP) A Ukrainian skeleton athlete flashed a small sign that read No War in Ukraine to the cameras as he finished a run at the Beijing Olympics on Friday night.
Vladyslav Heraskevychs sign was printed on a blue-and-yellow piece of paper, matching the colors of his countrys flag. He did not display the message after his second run of the night, which was his fourth and final run of the Olympics.
Its my position. Like any normal people, I dont want war, Heraskevych said after he finished competing. I want peace in my country, and I want peace in the world. Its my position, so I fight for that. I fight for peace.
The gesture came as Russia has amassed over 100,000 troops near Ukraine, stoking fears in the West that Moscow is planning an invasion. Russia insists it has no such designs but doesnt want Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to be allowed to join the western NATO alliance.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-skeleton-russia-ukraine-sports-beijing-3866f2f1c193d00f147752fee965ca68
WillUSAF
(91 posts)The IOC lets athletes "protest", but the rules are that they are NOT allowed to do it at a venue or during comps. Also, I saw that the IOC President was at the sledding event. He picked the perfect time. Good for him!
MontanaMama
(23,295 posts)over protest signs but cant seem to penalize Russia for doping in any meaningful way. Sounds about right.
robbob
(3,522 posts)The athletes who ARENT doping are allowed to compete. I dont think it would be fair to punish the athletes just because they live under such a horrible authoritarian government.
My 2 cents
MontanaMama
(23,295 posts)The young figure skater was busted and who knows how many more are still at it. Putin was at the opening ceremonies just to make sure the rest of the world knew those were Russian athletes.