Ukrainian skeletonist Vladislav Geraskevich, who staged a silent protest at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, said that this act was not spontaneous.

After his performance in the last qualifying race, the athlete approached the cameras and showed the inscription on the poster with the blue and yellow flag "

“We wanted the whole world to see that we are a peaceful state, we don’t want to fight with anyone, but we want a peaceful sky above our heads and a bright future for our generation. Therefore, such an opinion appeared for the Olympic Games.. In fact, we did not expect that there would be such a lot of attention to us.. After all, you are an ordinary athlete, minding your own business, you don’t think that you can somehow influence the world situation,” Geraskevich said in an interview with Channel 24..

The athlete noted that he was not afraid of a possible disqualification.

" We go in for sports to represent Ukraine, but if there is a war in the country, then there is no point in it"

We took this risk. There was nothing political, it's a call for peace. I did not mention any state in my address. And in all interviews I only talk about our country, that we want peace in Ukraine. Thieves and the hat is on fire, there is such an expression, so we get support from all over the world. And from the east side - threats, like: " We took risks, but this is more important. War is a horror, we want peace in Ukraine,” Geraskevich said..

Recall that the famous Ukrainian biathlete Andriy Derizemlya commented on the accusations against him that he went abroad after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion.