Politics versus sports.
Vladyslav Heraskevich lost his Olympic accreditation for several hours. Although he has now regained it, his disqualification from the skeleton competition still stands. The reason for this is the helmet on which Vladyslav has black-and-white photographs of his slain comrades. Several of his fellow athletes died defending Ukraine from Russian aggression, and they can only participate in the XXV Winter Olympic Games in the form of a picture on his helmet. The IOC Disciplinary Commission was adamant and justified its decision by stating that the athlete refused to comply with the principle of prohibiting political statements within the framework of the Olympic program. IOC President Kirsty Coventry delegated herself to the position of mediator and considers the outcome of the sensitive negotiations, in the form of the cancellation of the withdrawal of accreditation, to be a good compromise. It was certainly not easy to resolve this complicated situation, and it seems that it has not yet been completely successful. When assessing and making decisions on this matter, the basis for the argument should be the second of the six pillars of the Olympic Charter, namely: The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society that respects human dignity. This is obviously where the whole problem lies. On the one hand, it is in principle right not to mix sport with politics if the world lives in peace and dignity. However, politics is clearly interfering more and more in sport, and it is quite obvious that sport cannot fail to respond. For example, historically, both world wars drastically restricted people's right to safe and free sports, including competition at the Olympic Games level. Sport must not be political, but it must reflect politics, perceive it, and, when necessary, intervene by applying the general principles of fair play. In other words, it must assess the impact of its decisions on the perception of sport in a broader social context. The exclusion of Russian athletes from the Games years ago was a response to flagrant and systematic violations of anti-doping rules. War crimes committed by the Russian side against citizens of another country have now been added to the reasons for continuing the ban. Thirteen so-called AIN athletes are participating in this year's Olympic Games, apparently without helmets with photographs. Thanks to this, they will not lose their accreditation.