Heraskevych's team to challenge IOC disqualification in Swiss court
Heraskevych and sports lawyer Yevhen Pronin made the statement at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, Ukrinform reports.
The skeleton racer, whom the IOC barred from competing at the Olympic Games for wearing a "helmet of remembrance" featuring portraits of athletes killed during the war, said: "Even though the IOC betrayed them, I will not betray them. We will continue our fight. I am convinced that these athletes have the right to be on this helmet. They had the right to be there during the competition. In the future, they will be there again."
Pronin, former acting president of the Ukrainian Athletics Federation, recalled that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had dismissed Heraskevych's appeal against the IOC regarding his disqualification from the Olympic Games. Ukraine now has 30 days to submit a legal response.
"This court does not have the appeal and cassation procedures we are used to. Our option now is to apply to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. We have a team of European lawyers ready to assist. To represent interests within the Swiss jurisdiction, we need specialists who hold the appropriate licenses and qualifications," Pronin said.
Heraskevych called his Olympic disqualification unfair and described the IOC's ruling as a "pro-Russian game."
"Now I can analyze the situation and say that the whole world has seen how the IOC system plays along with Russia. We managed to pull back the curtain behind which this pro-Russian game was being conducted by the IOC. I am very glad that after this became public, many countries did not stand aside but stood up for us. Many athletes wrote about it and spoke about it in interviews," he said.
As was previously reported, the IOC disqualified Heraskevych ahead of competition at the Winter Olympic Games in Italy after he appeared at the start wearing a helmet bearing portraits of 24 Ukrainian athletes killed during the war. In its decision, the IOC cited a provision of the Olympic Charter prohibiting political demonstrations at sports venues.
On February 13, CAS rejected Heraskevych's claim against the IOC regarding his Olympic disqualification.
Photo credit: Kyrylo Chubotin / Ukrinform
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