Jim McKay
Independent scholar
During a media conference in Milan prior to the Winter Olympics, IOC president Kirsty Coventry was asked for her views on the deployment of security operatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the event. It was an important question, given an estimated 10,000 people protested in Milan against the environmental impact of the Olympics and presence of ICE agents by holding signs like “Ice = Gestapo”.
Coventry said it was not the IOC’s role to comment on this issue. She added it was “sad” ICE agents had been a distraction but had “faith” the opening ceremony would evoke “the magic and the spirit” of the Olympics. Her comments were a regurgitation of the IOC’s self-serving rhetoric of remaining “strictly neutral at all times”, which elides a profoundly political tactic of deflecting criticisms of its lucrative product of “elite, corporate, commodified sport. ”Coventry then articulated this doctrine more forcefully at the 145th IOC congress in Milan:
We understand politics … But our game is sport … a neutral ground … where every athlete can compete freely, without being held back by the politics or divisions of their governments. In a world that is increasingly divided, this principle matters more than ever. It is what allows the Olympic Games to remain a place of inspiration where the athletes of the world can come together and showcase the best of our humanity.
Her remarks were welcomed by the Russian Olympic Committee, which was banned from competition after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It also came on the heels of FIFA president Gianni Infantino saying Russia should be reinstated to international football. Coventry and Infantino spoke knowing their remarks would cause outrage. According to Ukraine’s sports minister Matvii Bidnyi, “As long as Russians continue killing Ukrainians and politicising sport, their flag and national symbols have no place among people who respect values such as justice, integrity, and fair play”.
Although the opening ceremony’s theme of “Armonia” (Harmony) was generally well received, Coventry’s hope of a magical spectacle went awry, with spectators booing U.S. Vice President JD Vance, when he was shown applauding the American team on the large screen.
President Zelenskyy has reposted Vladyslav Heraskevych’s photo of his racing helmet, placed on top of the Medal of Freedom. No words needed. pic.twitter.com/HggPXVjm3s
— JanTheStitchWitch (@pictureladyjan) February 14, 2026
Coventry’s specious neutrality then backfired after the IOC disqualified Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, who ironically was his nation’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony. His transgression was insisting he would compete in a helmet with images of Ukrainian athletes who died during the Russian invasion. After the discredited Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Heraskevych’s ad hoc appeal, he was disqualified for violating the “athlete expression”rules and because “the field of play is sacrosanct”.
The IOC achieved a technical victory in the court of law but lost in the court of public opinion. The disqualification precipitated condemnation from human rights organisations and the media, with headlines like “Olympic hypocrisy over Ukraine helmet scandal is outrageous”. Although the IOC officially denied the ban was due to pressure from Russia, this failed to cut through media depictions of a classic David vs Goliath contest with the IOC as the villain.
One story encapsulated the debacle well as another “car crash” caused by the IOC’s adherence to the “old lie that sport and politics can be separated”, while Heraskevych took a memorable stand, “got the horrors of the war in Ukraine back on the agenda”, and “won the public relations war”.
These events need to be placed in wider public perceptions of the IOC and FIFA as corrupt and dysfunctional organisations that repeatedly fail to match grandiose claims about their high moral purposes by engaging in sportswashing.
A truly Ukrainian moment in Munich.
Skeleton racer @heraskevych visited the Ukraine House on the sidelines of the #MSC2026. pic.twitter.com/S4lOgEOvr8
— Munich Security Conference (@MunSecConf) February 14, 2026
Professor of Germanic Studies John Hoberman has shown the IOC has a history of proclaiming it is a paragon of democracy and humanity, while harbouring anti-Semites, reactionaries, and fascists. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha exploited this syndrome in castigating FIFA and the IOC:
679 Ukrainian girls and boys will never be able to play football – Russia killed them, And it keeps killing more while moral degenerates suggest lifting bans, despite Russia’s failure to end its war. Future generations will view this as a shame reminiscent of the 1936 Olympics.
Sybiha’s mention of 1936 alludes to the “Nazi Olympics” in Berlin, which Hoberman called the dramatisation of “a centuries-old fantasy of German dominion over the European world”.
This history of political hypocrisy has direct implications for the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where President Donald Trump will be front and centre. Trump has insulted and/or threatened many nations who will be competing and is hostile to diversity, equity and inclusion polices. He and his supporters lambasted American athletes at the Winter Olympics who raised concerns about his regime, calling them “ingrates on ice”, and “a disgrace to the red, white, and blue” who should be stripped of their Olympic uniforms.
Trump also abjures diplomatic niceties unless he is publicly praised and/or receives gifts from toadies. During the draw for the 2026 World Cup, Infantino tried to appease Trump by absurdly awarding him FIFA’s inaugural “peace prize.”Although the IOC excels in gift-giving, it will need all its political nous to curry favour with Trump.
The IOC’s injunction inadvertently made Heraskevych a national hero and he was awarded the Order of Freedom by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as a tribute to his “moral stance”. At the ceremony Heraskevych maintained he had not broken any rules, and said highlighting the sacrifices of Ukrainians might prove to be “more important than any medal”.
Copyright © Jim McKay 2026
