International Olympic Committee stops Olympians from honouring the dead

OF ALL the insane bureaucratic nonsense that infests competitions like the Winter Olympics, this is probably the worst example.

UKRAINE’S Olympic athletes want to wear black armbands honouring the people who have died in violent protests back home.

The International Olympic Committee won’t let them.

The eastern European nation is descending into civil war, with the government expected to deploy the military to suppress an uprising which has claimed 26 lives and injured more than 400 people. It’s the worst violence Ukraine has seen in two decades.

VIOLENCE INTENSIFIES IN UKRAINE

A protester throws tyres to maintain a barricade of flames between protesters and police in Kiev.

Ukraine’s national Olympic Committee says it wants to “share deep pain over the loss of fellow countrymen” and wear armbands as an “expression of sorrow and sympathy”.

Sounds fair enough. The athletes aren’t talking about protesting themselves — they simply want to honour the dead.

But when a request was put before the IOC, it replied that this was “impossible according to the Olympic Charter”, AP reports. Rule 50 of the charter forbids any kind of “demonstration, political or religious”.

Riot police throw stones at anti-government protesters, who are throwing rocks in return.

That rule is interpreted broadly, to say the least. At the start of the Games, several Norwegian cross country skiers were reprimanded for wearing black armbands in honour of their teammate’s brother, who had died days earlier.

“We understand their desire to honour their friends’ memory, but we believe that a competitive arena, where the atmosphere is one of celebration, is not the right place to do it,” the IOC said.

“We do not want to allow the competition to become a place of mourning.”

Marit Bjoergen of Norway competed with a black armband, and was later reprimanded.

The committee has also forbidden competitors in Sochi from wearing stickers on their helmets in honour of star freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died after a training accident in 2012.

Burke was pushing to have halfpipe and slopestyle skiing included in the Winter Olympics. Both events have been contested in Sochi.

Skier Sarah Burke, who died in 2012.

The Ukrainian delegation in Sochi is led by Sergei Bubka, an Olympic pole vault legend. The violence back home is clearly on his mind. He’s appealed for an end to the violence.

“All of us, we have families at home,” he said yesterday. “This last night was very tough because we follow what happened ... Everyone is really worried.

“I never, ever thought it could happen in my country.”

Our athletes are competing hard in Sochi, but peacefully and with honor. Violence has no place in the World.

Ukraine is currently pursuing a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. It’s up against Beijing, Osly, Almaty and Krakow.

Ukrainian pole vault great Sergei Bubka.

Ukrainian athletes have been told they can’t wear black armbands.

A barricade in Kiev's Independence Square.

Riot police shoot rubber bullets towards anti-government protesters.

A woman lights candles in memory of the victims of clashes between police and protesters.