Some athletes will have one less worry as the Paralympics officially begin Wednesday in Paris: their body art.
The Paralympics has dropped its ban on Olympics rings tattoos, ending an era in which Paralympians had to cover up their ink or perhaps face disqualification, The New York Times reported Friday.
“Athletes with such tattoos do not need to cover them up,” Craig Spence, a spokesperson for the International Paralympic Committee, told the newspaper in an email. But he did not elaborate on the reason for the change.
The Olympics and Paralympics take place in the same host city but they are separate entities with separate logos ― and that’s where the controversy began, NBC Sports reported. The Paralympics considered the traditional interlocked Olympics rings ― as opposed to the three-swoosh branding of its own games ― a prohibited third-party advertisement.
Current Olympic stars like gymnastics icon Simone Biles and 100-meter track gold medalist Noah Lyles have them and it’s become an “ubiquitous” site in the Olympic village, USA Today reported last month.
“It’s almost like a little card for a somewhat exclusive club,” said 1988 Olympic double gold medalist swimmer Chris Jacobs. Jacobs has been dubbed “The Godfather of the Olympics Tattoo” for apparently starting the trend decades ago.
Now Paralympians can proudly wear their Olympics ink.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist swimmer who used a Sharpie to conceal the Olympic rings tattoo on his back, applauded the decision.
“Paralympic athletes have enough to worry about,” he told The Times. “Having a logo on our bodies that signifies our journey, our experience as athletes — it’s important to so many of us.”
