Paralympians with Olympic tattoos could be banned thanks to obscure rule

Paralympians could find themselves disqualified from their events for revealing Olympic ring tattoos due to an obscure rule.

On 28 August the Paralympic Games in Paris begin, but while the event will fill the gap in our lives left by the Olympics, an obscure rule means we won’t be seeing any Olympic ring tattoos proudly displayed on the athletes’ bodies.

Reaching the height of your sport and competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an achievement worthy of commemorating with a tattoo. But, for the Para athletes about to compete, showing one could land them in some serious trouble.

This is due to the bizarre rule enforced by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which bans athletes from “body advertising”.

The IPC is a separate entity from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which governs the Olympic games and whose logo includes the iconic five rings symbol created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913.

This means such tattoos fall under its body advertising rule and athletes will be required to cover them in order to compete without penalty.

It’s something the now-retired British Paralympian swimmer Josef Craig discovered the hard way before the 2016 Rio Games when he was penalised for not covering his Olympic rings tattoo on his chest.

It occurred at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Portugal when Craif, who has cerebral palsy, was disqualified from the competition despite winning his heat in the S8 100m freestyle competition.

The IPC defended its ruling, explaining that athletes are warned about the rule ahead of time.

A spokesperson said: “Body advertising is not allowed in any way whatsoever and that includes the Olympic rings.

“The athlete did not wear a cover and was therefore disqualified. All teams are informed of the advertising policy at a technical meeting prior to competition. It wasn’t as if they had not been reminded about the rules.”

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