MILAN (AP) — Anastasia Kucherova, a Russian living in Milan, voiced her opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine with a highly symbolic, if at first anonymous, act: Carrying the Ukraine team placard during the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
The topic has become a debate during the 2026 Milan Cortina Games amid the conflicts involving Russia and Israel.
Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov — the owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk soccer club and the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol — gave the money to Heraskevych from his charity foundation. The amount is equal to what the country’s Olympic gold medalists would get.
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych had his appeal dismissed as images on his helmet breached an Olympic ‘sacred principle’.
2d
Banned Olympic skeleton racer gets $200k donation from president of Ukraine’s biggest soccer club
Vladyslav Heraskevych's "helmet of remembrance" was banned by the IOC, with the Ukrainian losing a subsequent appeal to CAS.
Vladysav Heraskevych, the Ukrainian skeleton racer disqualified from over his remembrance helmet, has received his country's Order of Freedom.
Skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych late on Monday said he had returned to Ukraine after being excluded from the Olympic competitions. In a video posted on X, the 27-year-old appeared to record himself in darkness in central Kiev.
While "AIN" may appear as a country code at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, it doesn't actually represent a nation at all.
Some results have been hidden because they may be inaccessible to you
Show inaccessible results
