IOC rejects grieving Ukraine's black band request

The IOC on Wednesday rejected a request by Ukrainian athletes in Sochi to wear black armbands in mourning for the victims of the violence at home, as pole vault great Sergey Bubka urged an "Olympic truce" to halt the bloodshed. The Ukrainian team at the Winter Olympics in Sochi said they were shocked by the violence that has killed at least 26 and vowed to do everything to bring back medals for their troubled nation. Bubka, a Ukrainian who won gold for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Olympics and now heads Ukraine's Olympic Committee, said he was "shocked" by the events at home. Usually careful to steer clear of politics in public, Bubka said that he was prepared to do anything he could to restore peace. He said that there was still a chance for a peaceful solution and urged an "Olympic truce" to be imposed immediately to end the violence for the duration of the Games. "There is still a chance for a peaceful solution. Let's start with an Olympic Truce right now, for the sake of our future. Let's not lose this opportunity." The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said its delegation at the Games led by Bubka had asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if their athletes could wear black bands in competition to remember the dead. However it said that the IOC had rejected the request, as it would have infringed the Olympic charter on athletes' clothing. "We received the answer from the IOC that this was not possible in line with the Olympic charter," the Ukrainian Olympic Committee said. It said that it wanted the bands to be worn in a sign of "sadness and sympathy". The IOC had already notified Norway that its female cross country skiers should not have worn black armbands to remember the dead brother of a teammate at a race early in the Games. Ukraine's cross country relay team of Marina Lisogor and Kateryna Serdyuk pulled out of their event at Sochi on Wednesday, in what some media said was a protest at the ban on the black bands. However the Ukrainian Olympic Committee strongly denied that this was the case, saying that Serdyuk had a back injury that would require a period of treatment. -'Ukraine will survive this'- The IOC has yet to comment on the issue of the black bands but its president Thomas Bach praised the conduct of the team, saying they were representing Ukraine with great dignity. "Their presence here is a symbol that sport can build bridges and help to bring people from different backgrounds together in peace," he said. The Ukrainian team, in a joint statement published on the website of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, also expressed shock over the violence. "Here in Sochi, we will make every effort so that Ukrainian flag hangs above the Olympic podium and the national anthem of Ukraine is played in honour of our victory." Ukraine has so far had a relatively poor Games, with just one bronze medal won by biathlete Vita Semerenko in the women's sprint. The Games have also highlighted how a number of top Ukrainian-born athletes are now representing Belarus or Russia due to the poor state of facilities in their homeland. Ukraine's biathlon mixed relay team had been seen as a medal chance Wednesday but only finished eighth. Team member Sergiy Semenov insisted the trouble at home had not affected their performance. "Of course it is hard but we wish everyone peace and goodwill," he said. Ukrainian figure skater Natalia Popova, who is based in the United States said: "Hopefully, my skating can inspire the people back in Ukraine to be more peaceful with each other." Meanwhile, Kiev-born top-100 tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who famously knocked Roger Federer out of Wimbledon last year, took to Twitter to vent his anger over the deaths. "My city is on fire, there are people dying, politics are hiding behind the masks of RiotPolice. #Ukraine will survive this," tweeted the 28-year-old. Source: AFP