GB athlete had to cover up Olympic ring tattoo at Paralympics after being disqualified over it

A British athlete who got the Olympic rings tattooed on his body had to cover them up when he was competing at the Paralympics.

2024's iteration of the games is right around the corner as the Paralympic Games will begin in Paris on 28 August.

All the athletes competing at the games will be preparing to do their very best - and they'll also have been told about all the rules they must follow to avoid getting in trouble.

One of those rules - which has since changed - centred around tattoos the athletes are allowed to display, as the Olympic Rings are a very popular design for them to get inked into the skin.

However, anyone who competed at the Paralympics with such a tattoo would have been in quite a considerable spot of bother due to rules at the time against 'body advertising'.

Let's be honest, that's a pretty dope tattoo. (YouTube/Paralympic Games)

International Paralympic Committee (IPC), a separate body from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), previously banned those competing in the games from using their body to advertise anything.

That includes the Olympics, so an athlete with the five rings tattooed on them would have been in trouble.

In fact, that's exactly what happened to one Paralympian who won gold in the 400m S7 freestyle at the 2012 Paralympic Games.

After London 2012, Josef Craig got a tattoo of the Paralympics GB lion logo inked onto his left pec, and nestled just below it were the Olympic Rings.

However, from then on, he had to cover up the rings when he was swimming or he'd face disqualification from competitions.

In 2016, he was banned from a race at the IPC European Championships for not covering up the rings on his tattoo, he'd won his heat but was not allowed into the final because of the uncovered rings.

Josef Craig had to cover up the Olympic rings to compete at the Paralympics. (YouTube/Paralympic Games)

An IPC spokesperson said at the time: "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 so it wasn't as if they had not been reminded about the rules."

Craig would later go on to represent Paralympics GB at Rio 2016, where he won bronze in the 100m S8 freestyle.

To participate in that race, he covered up the tattoo of the five rings with the Union Jack, though you could just about see the previous logo poking out underneath.

That was good enough for the organisers and Craig would end up on the Paralympic podium once more.

So, should athletes at the Paris Paralympics with Olympic rings tattoos be worried?

Thankfully, the answer is no. The Paralympic committee has since confirmed that its policies on tattoos changed after the Tokyo 2020 Games.

A spokesperson said: "We will not be banning athletes for Olympic rings tattoos at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games."