Topics: News, Olympics, Sport, Tattoos, World News
The Olympics have seen many superstar athletes come and go, and they all have the same tattoo donning their bodies.
Such as the case with gold medalist Nevin Harrison, who had only been a title winner for less than a month before she decided to go out and get her first tattoo.
The sketch cost her a whopping $500, but she doesn’t regret it.
According to USA Today, she said: "I had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to get the best one and have perfect circles."
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But she isn’t the first and won’t be the last to get herself a tattoo after winning gold.
Apparently, it’s a rite of passage for athletes who compete at the Olympics to get a permanent reminder of their time there.
Allyson Felix, who is the most decorated track and field athlete in U.S. history, has the very same tattoo on her right ankle; Noah Lyles has it on the right side of his rib cage; gymnastics champions, Simone Biles and Suni Lee, also have it on their wrists.
But what is the tattoo everyone is getting?
It’s the Olympic rings.
According to Chris Jacobs, an Olympic gold medallist who won three times at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul is credited for starting the trend after getting the rings tattooed on him three times.
He began with a tiny tattoo under where his swim shorts would cover, another above his hip and finally a giant piece on the inside of his bicep.
For Chris, and many others, it’s a symbolic statement.
He explained: "I do think it’s become a rite of passage. It’s almost like a little card for a somewhat exclusive club."
The 59-year-old explained: "They represent a lot to a lot of people. I wanted to mark that period in my life, I suppose.”
The athlete rocked his symbol around 30 years before Harrison.
After he donned his ink, other stars like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte began sporting their own tattoos and soon, other athletes in different categories started to join in.
Olympic sprinter Gabby Thomas was one person who hopped on the trend, saying: "It represents just an amazing era of my life.
"Whether or not I continued to run and no matter what I did on the track after that, I will always remember this time period and how spectacular it was and how much I've learned and grown from it."
As did Spain's gymnast Sergio Munoz, canoe athlete, Evy Leibfarth, and
Kara Goucher, who actually waited 15 years after winning gold to join in on the trend.
She explained why in an Instagram post: "I felt like I hadn’t performed well there.”
Ben Hallock, from the 2021 men's water polo team waited seven years because he ‘just sort of wanted to think about why I was getting it and what it meant to me.’
Even the Paralympics have started to tattoo their own trademark symbol, which is an Agitos, a trio of check marks.
Let’s hope the tradition continues.
