The Winter Olympics in Italy feel like an opera, with big emotions driving the story as much as the sport.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has lost his bid to overturn an Olympic disqualification tied to a planned helmet tribute.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych pushed at the limits of the International Olympic Committee’s rules on freedom of expression, and the global sports body pushed back.

It was a day marked by a comeback and controversy at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Notable reactions to Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych being banned from the Milan Cortina Games because of his insistence on wearing a helmet that pays tribute to athletes and coaches killed in the war with Russia.

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych is out of the Milan Cortina Games after he refused to stop wearing a banned tribute helmet.

Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych is allowed to wear a black armband at the Milan Cortina Olympics but the IOC says he cannot wear a helmet painted to honor Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.

Ukraine's top Olympic sliding contender is frustrated with the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation's potential decision to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Milan-Cortina Games.

Athletes around the world cheered when leaders of the Paralympics booted Russia from the Games.

With Russian troops encircling the capital of Kyiv, more than 60 athletes from Ukraine and elsewhere sent an open letter to Olympic and Paralympic leaders urging them to immediately suspend the Russian and Belarussian Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

Around the world, athletes are throwing their support behind political and social causes, part of a wave of sports activism that has flourished in the years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during games to protest police brutality against Black people.

A Ukrainian skeleton athlete flashed a small sign that read “No War in Ukraine” to the cameras as he finished a run at the Beijing Olympics.