Major change made ahead of Paralympics that will impact all athletes with Olympic rings tattoo
A major rule change is coming to the 2024 Paralympic Games after organisers confirmed they would not be enforcing one particular regulation for the Paris Games.
The 2024 Summer Paralympics starts tonight with the opening ceremony taking place at the Place de la Concorde in the centre of Paris.
The theming of the ceremony is set to be the human body as well as 'history and its paradoxes', with millions set to tune in around the world for the start of the 12-day sporting festival.
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Organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), it'll be the first time the Summer Games have been hosted in France, with the Winter Paralympics taking place in the country back in 1992.
With around 4,400 athletes competing across 22 sports, there are rules and regulations in place that they'll have to adhere to if they want a chance of winning gold.
But one rule that's off the table concerns tattoos, specifically those with Olympic rings.
Athletes who have visible tattoos of the Olympic rings were set to land themselves in trouble during the 2024 Paralympics, with the IPC having particular rules against 'body advertising'.
And if you haven't guessed already, the rings fall under that category and have done for many years. Athletes had faced penalties or even disqualification for going against the IPC regulations.
This was because despite the similarity between the Olympics and Paralympics, both are run completely separate under different organisations, with the IPC having nothing to do with the International Olympic Committee.
In 2016, the IPC said the tattoos 'confuses the public and impacts the understanding about the Paralympic brand'.
But this week the IPC has suddenly dropped the rule in regards to the Olympic rings tattoo. No explanation as to why has been given; not that that will matter to any athlete with the tat.
"Athletes with such tattoos do not need to cover them up,” Craig Spence, the chief brand and communications officer for the IPC, said in an email.
Back in the 2016 Paralympics, Team GB swimmer Josef Craig had to cover up his rings tattoo with a Union Jack after being banned from the final of the IPC European Championships.
And back in the 2012 Games, USA athlete Rudy Garcia-Tolson was permitted to keep his silver medal after the marker pen he used to cover his tattoo had washed off in the pool.
Speaking out on the rule in 2016, Garcia-Tolson said: "I don’t really agree with it, but it’s the rules, so we’re just going to have to go with it.
"I’m going to follow the rules. I don’t want to put all this hard work in and then get disqualified for something I have on my body."
Speaking to LADbible, the IPC confirmed the Olympic rings rule was 'old policy'. A spokesperson said: "We will not be banning athletes for Olympic rings tattoos at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. This is an old policy.
"There are rules around third party branding tattoos. The policy changed after Tokyo 2020."
Topics: Paralympics, Olympics, Sport, World News, Viral
Tom Earnshaw