EXCLUSIVE: Another Ukraine athlete faces helmet ban – 'we need support and understanding'

VIDEO SHOWS: INTERVIEW WITH UKRAINIAN SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI WHO ALSO FACES OLYMPIC HELMET BAN FOR THE WORDING 'WITH HEROISM THERE CAN BE NO FINAL DEFEAT'  SHOWS: MILAN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 12, 2026) (REUTERS – Access all) 1. OLEH HANDEI WALKING OUT OF OLYMPIC VILLAGE  2. UKRAINE BADGE 3. OLEH HANDEI HOLDING HELMET 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING      "In this sentence, here is like, 'where there heroism is, there is no defeat'. And when I showed my helmet to ISU (International Skating Union) equipment, they should check everything for some advertisement or something, as well as for if it's some politics or something. So, they saw my sentence. And they told me that, like, sorry, but it's propaganda of war. It's some kind of political sentence. We cannot let you skate with this helmet. So please put some tape here and then you can go." 5. HELMET WITH UKRAINIAN WORDING SAYING 'WITH HEROISM THERE CAN BE NO FINAL DEFEAT'  6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING ON WHETHER WORDS ARE PROPOGANDA      "No, of course, no, it's just words. It's a sentence from one philosophy woman, which I really like; I really respect her. And for me, it's not about politics, not about war; it's just some motivation works for me, which helps me to keep myself, to keep my results, to keep my mind calm, to do my best, to get the best results in my sport career, in my season." 7. HANDEI HOLDING HELMET  8. CLOSE UP OF HELMET. 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING:     "I don't know. I don't really know. I just want to support him. I don't know how I can do this. I know for sure that I will find a way to support him somehow in the competition. I'm not sure about this sentence. Probably I will put some tape there. But I'll figure out something for how I can support him." 10. HELMET  11. HANDEI HOLDING HELMET  12. HELMET  13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING:      "I didn't really want to do this like in public or something because I'm really worried about my future career, and my sport career. But then I saw what Vlad did, what they told him, and I was like, but it's not okay actually because he is not doing anything wrong. It's not propaganda, it's not he just like reminds us, reminds the world that actually we exist as a country, we exist as a people, as humans, so we need some support, we need some understanding." 14. HANDEI / OLYMPIC VILLAGE  15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING:      "For us, he is a leader, and they just banned our leader, leader of our team, of my team, of our country. And for me, it's like they negated my power. For me, it's, I know what I can say. I just, I'm losing my mind right now because I know that Vlad, he's really strong. He's showing really good results in the competition, before competition, not just top 15, not just top 20, top five. He's really, really an elite sportsman, and they banned him, they banned the Ukrainian team." 16. CLOSE OF HANDEI'S FACE / HELMET  17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UKRAINE SPEED SKATER OLEH HANDEI SAYING ON MESSAGE TO IOC:          "And I will say, if you're already giving, if you're already letting for neutral athletes to participate in qualification competition, Olympic Games, please let me, as a Ukrainian sportsman who represented my country, put this sentence on my helmet, because for me, it's really important." ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (MARCH 15, 2024) (REUTERS – Access all) (MUTE)  18. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF OLEH HANDEI  BEIJING, CHINA (MARCH 14, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) (MUTE)  19. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF OLEH HANDEI  STORY: TO FOLLOW 

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