The International Olympic Committee has confirmed that it has banned athletes from wearing memorial stickers for late Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who played a pivotal role in getting the ski halfpipe into the Sochi Olympics before her death in January of 2012 from injuries sustained in a training accident.
In comments relayed by Reuters, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said his group could help organize another event to remember Burke but that “the competitions themselves, which are a place of celebration, are probably not the right place to really do that and we like to keep that separate.”
“But we absolutely will support and want to help any kind of remembrance that the athletes particularly want to do,” he added.
Not happy with the IOC’s decision to ban the Burke stickers is Australian snowboarder Torah Bright, who talked about the matter a few days ago on her Instagram page and also hailed Burke as “a beautiful, talented, powerful woman, who’s spirit inspires me still.”
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Burke, a four-time X Games champion (2007-09, 2011) and the 2005 superpipe world champion, lobbied the IOC to add ski halfpipe onto the Olympic program. After an unsuccessful attempt for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, it was officially put in for Sochi in April of 2011.
Additionally, the IOC has sent a letter to the Norwegian Olympic Committee informing them that the black armbands worn by their cross-country skiers on Saturday was inappropriate (they noted that it was merely a reminder of the rules, not a reprimand).
The armbands were worn to remember the brother of team member Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen. He passed away last week - one day before the Opening Ceremony.
