MILAN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ukrainian short track speed skaterOleh Handei has been told to tape over an inspirational message on his helmet at the Olympics because it was seen as linked to the war with Russia, he said on Thursday.
Handei was speaking after his compatriot -- skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych -- was ejected from competition over his "helmet of remembrance" depicting athletes killed since Russia's invasion, despite a personal appeal not to wear it from the head of the International Olympic Committee.
Handei, who is due to compete in the 1500 metres at the Milano Cortina Games on Saturday, had a message on the helmet reading, 'Where there is heroism, there can be no final defeat'.
The line is a quote from Ukrainian writer Lina Kostenko which Handei said he used as motivation to help him compete to the best of his abilities.
The message has fallen foul of IOC rules preventing athletes from making political statements at Olympic sites or venues.
"They saw my sentence and they said to me, 'Sorry but it's war propaganda'," he told Reuters in a television interview, adding he would comply with the IOC ruling in order to compete.
Handei said he had initially been reluctant to go public on the issue but was emboldened by the example set by Heraskevych and defended their messages.
"It's not propaganda, it's not," he said.
"He (Heraskevych) just reminds us, reminds the world that we actually exist as a country, we exist as a people, as humans, so we need some support, we need some understanding," he added.
Handei said he hoped to find a way to show solidarity with Heraskevych but wanted to ensure he did well at the Games.
"I hope I can focus on my competition," he said.
(Reporting by Iain Axon and Irene Wang; Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Ken Ferris)
