AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
- Two goalies on the United States’ women’s hockey team may be forced to change the artwork on their helmets to remove images of the Statue of Liberty.
- According to the IOC, the Statue of Liberty may constitute a “political symbol” and thus violate IOC rules, which forbid any such images.
- The issue is expected to be resolved before the team’s game on Tuesday.
The United States’ women’s hockey team may be forced to make some unexpeced changes ahead of its second game of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
According to a report from Kevin Allen at USA Today, members of the International Olympic Committee may force the removal of images of the Statue of Liberty from the helmets of two goalies on Team USA — Nicole Hensley and Alex Rigsby.
USA Hockey spokesman Dave Fischer said that “discussions are ongoing” after IOC officials earlier indicated that the images would have to be removed.
The reason is due to a possible violation of the IOC’s policy against political symbols, which states that “No item may feature the wording or lyrics from national anthems, motivational words, public/political messaging or slogans related to national identity.”
Neither goalie played in Team USA’s opening game, as Maddie Rooney, whose helmet is absent any Statue of Libery iconography, started in the team’s 3-1 win over Finland.
As Emma Baccellieri at Deadspin noted, it would not be the first time at Pyeongchang 2018 that a player was asked to change their helmet due to the rule — South Korean goaltender Matt Dalton was asked to make a similar change to his helmet, which depicted 16th-century Korean admiral Yi Sun-shin.
According to Allen, the issue is expected to be resolved before Team USA’s game on Tuesday against the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
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