Women’s U.S. Hockey Goalies At Winter Olympics Do Not Have To Remove Statue Of Liberty From Masks, Says IOC

The International Olympic Committee has stated American Women hockey goalies playing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang will not need to remove the Statue of Liberty from their masks, despite what some may have been led to believe.

U.S. Women’s hockey goalies Olympic masks news

Reports began surfacing early Tuesday that the goalkeepers would be forced to get rid of the U.S. emblem, but the IOC quickly dismissed those claims in a tweet Tuesday morning:

The IOC has rules that dictate teams should not include any sort of political symbols — including national anthem lyrics or other political statements or slogans related to national identity — on their uniforms. However, it is clear some emblems are permissible, and all the details regarding which drawings or statements are deemed illicit and which are allowed are not known.

Thus, U.S. women’s hockey’s two goalies, Nicole Hensley and Alex Rigsby, can keep Lady Liberty on their masks while competing in South Korea.

The IOC has sanctioned hockey goalie masks at previous Olympics, however. At the Sochi Games in 2014, USA goalkeeper Jessie Vetter had to remove a reference to the U.S. Constitution from the backplate of her helmet. Canadian-born South Korean goalie Matt Dalton was forced to erase a drawing of legendary Korean naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-shin ahead of this year’s Pyeongchang Games.

Before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the IOC asked USA goalie Ryan Miller to remove the words “Matt Man” from his helmet. The phrase referred to Miller’s cousin Matt, who had died of cancer at age 18. The committee also has a rule against the promotion of individuals.

The U.S. hockey women routed the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0 in Tuesday’s preliminary round game. The American ladies defeated Finland 3-1 in their first preliminary round game on Sunday. They next face Canada on Thursday at 10:10 pm EST.

Given the heavily politically charged world climate, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that some teams may have wished to add a statement to their uniforms but were ultimately prohibited by the IOC.