As of today, some Ukrainian olympic athletes have decided to leave the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to return to their home country and mourn its losses. Currently, in Ukraine, the government has issued a state of national emergency when violent protests broke out in the streets of Kiev, the capital, after the November decision to back away from a European Union pact by the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, without consulting the people, and looking towards the Russian Federation instead. After the International Olympic Committee, IOC, denied the Ukrainian athletes from wearing black bands around their arms to show support for the losses, as, according to spokesman Mark Adams, the Olympics are a place of celebration and should not be a focus of mourning, two figure skaters have decided to leave for their country. It is not certain if more are to leave, but the IOC has made it clear that they support all of the athletes’ decisions.