From the Olympic Rings to Poseidon and a bromance immortalised in permanent ink: Swimmers’ tattoos and the extraordinary stories behind them

Figure skaters have their costumes, skateboarders have their decks, and footballers their boots and haircuts.

But the only canvas swimmers have to show off their individuality is often just their bodies.

Tattoos in swimming are almost impossible to hide, and can reveal a lot about their owners – from their accomplishments in the pool, to their life mottos, heritage, and family history. Olympics.com took a closer look at the main themes among swimmers’ tattoos, the most creative ink, and the surprising stories behind some of them.

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The Olympic classic: Put a ring on it

Joseph Schooling’s historic win in the men’s 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympic Games made him a national hero in Singapore. There was a victory parade, a standing ovation in the country's Parliament, and mobs of excited fans eager for a look at the country’s first ever Olympic champion.

Schooling himself chose to celebrate the momentous achievement in a different way. Sitting at a packed press conference, the swimmer had his right arm extended, a vivid tattoo of the Olympic rings showing through the clear bandage on his bicep.

Getting a tattoo of the iconic five rings is a popular way to commemorate Olympic achievements. USA’s Townley Haas got the rings on his shoulder after winning gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay at Rio 2016, while Dutch butterfly specialist Nyls Korstanje got them inked on his his neck shortly after making his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, announcing the addition on social media with the words “Joining the club”.

Even obstacles like mundane paperwork cannot stop athletes from adding their names to said exclusive club.

Stephanie Balduccini was 16 when she made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. As per Brazil's rules regarding minors, her parents had to sign a declaration of parental consent, register it at a notary’s office, and also be in the room when their daughter was getting the tattoo. She told us the extra effort was all worth it, however.

“I had to sign a lot of terms to be able to do it, but I was very happy,” Balduccini told Olympics.com. “People look and say, 'Wow, you're an Olympian!'”

While the rings are a set image, swimmers still find ways to get creative with the end result.

USA’s Kieran Smith added Roman numerals to his, while Turkyie’s Mert Kilavuz has one of the rings getting picked up by chopsticks. His teammate Berkay Ogretir transformed the rings on his left bicep into a bursting firework show.

For the love of water: Poseidon and Japanese symbols

At the time of his Olympic debut, at Rio 2016, Adam Peaty did not have a smudge of ink on his body. By the following Olympic Games, the British swimmer raised arms covered in tattoos as he celebrated his second invididual gold medal.

“Tattoos kind of resemble who I am and, especially in a sport where it’s really hard to identify who’s racing from above, it’s really easy to identify it is me racing,” Peaty told International Swimming League. “For a new audience as well, it’s great to see that. People tweet me going, ‘Oh great tattoos’. Obviously they’re engaged because they want to see that, so it just adds a new aspect and it kind of expresses my personality.”

Ancient Greek myths are among Peaty’s favourite themes, especially the aquatic references. He has Poseidon tattooed on his left forearm as well as a trident with the words “courage, integrity, belief” splashed across.

Italy’s Luca Dotto paid tribute to his love for aquatics – and a bet won against his mother – by inking the Japanese symbol for water on his back.

“At 17 I made a bet with my mother, ‘If I get on the podium I get a tattoo’,” Dotto told Corriere della Serra. “Convinced that I would not have achieved that result, she accepted. When I called to let her know that I had gotten on the podium, I only said, ‘Book the tattoo appointment’.”

Into the wild: Eagles, bears, and a secret butterfly

While Dotto put his mother face-to-face with the fact that he was getting a tattoo, Freya Anderson spent more than a year hiding her first - a butterfly on her ribcage.

“I must have just turned 19. Got it then and then I hid it from my parents for a whole year and a half,” the British swimmer told Olympics.com. “I've been on holiday with them and everything in a costume and every time I'd just be so conscious of having them see it.”

It was not until the night before her first Olympic race, at Tokyo 2020 in 2021, that Anderson made the confession.

“In our race suits, you can basically see through them sometimes because they're so tight and I just had enough of trying to hide it,” she said. “I told my mum. I was like, ‘Listen, mum, I've had this tattoo for a year and a half. You're gonna see it, blah, blah, blah’.

“I just had enough of hiding it. And she thought it was fake. Like, ‘No way. That's a stick on’. I was like, ‘No, it's real’.”

Fellow British swimmer Jacob Peters forged even further into the wild with full sleeves featuring a wolf, stallion, and eagle. Two ancient warriors face off on his chest, one wearing a lion skin and the other the head of a bear, while a falcon spreads its wings on his back.

Caeleb Dressel also got a tattoo of an eagle, as a symbol of focus and courage, though it later took a backseat to the newer bear tattoo on the left upper arm.

“I’ve been searching for the perfect spirit animal that captures my soul, and the eagle just wasn’t that,” the USA swimmer explained in an interview.

Florida alligators and Texas Longhorns: Ink for the homesick

Dressel’s wide variety of animal and flora ink share one thing in common - they show where the American comes from.

"The whole sleeve is Florida-themed. I've got oranges...orange blossoms. I've got the gator. And then the black bear and an eagle,” Dressel told Swimming World. “All the animals are native to Florida. I have some Magnolia flowers on the inside as well.”

The alligator on Dressel's left forearm is also an emblem of the University of Florida where he trained.

For swimmers who trained at the University of Texas, the Texas Longhorn is a must tattoo, but like the Olympic rings, it needs to be earned.

“That's a tradition we have in Texas that if you win a national championship, you're allowed to get the tattoo,” USA’s Carson Foster told Olympics.com. “My freshman year we won NCAAs so I went to go get the tattoo.”

Other athletes go beyond university walls to show off their roots, proudly inking their nation’s symbols on their bodies.

Yazan Al Bawwab got the Palestine flag on his chest, while Carter Swift's Maori tattoo celebrates New Zealand’s indigenous populations.

A tribute to family: "Enjoy your life at all times"

For some swimmers, the tattoos pay tribute to something even more personal than country or culture.

Germany’s Florian Wellbrock has the lyrics of the German rapper Sido inked over his heart – "Genieß dein Leben ständig, du bist länger tot als lebendig" (Enjoy your life at all times, you’ll be dead longer than you are alive).

Complimented with a tattoo of a single wing on the other side of his chest, the phrase commemorates Wellbrock's sister Franziska who passed away at the age of 13. 

"I was nine years old at the time. It was a shock to have lost my sister, but I didn’t really understand it," Wellbrock told Magdeburger Volksstimme. "I didn't really get it right."

Great Britain’s Matthew Richards and Freya Anderson also keep their families on their minds – and on their skin – wherever they go. Richards has the word “family” tattooed on his left hand, while Anderson replicated the handwriting of her grandmother, who passed away in 2022, “so I can have her with me always”.

Carson Foster’s “heart of a champion” tattoo is a tribute to his grandfather.

“My grandpa used to tell me when I was really young, I think it was seven years old when I started, he said, just always have the heart of a champion. I would see him do it to me before my races and I would do it back,” the USA swimmer said, showing a gesture of drawing a heart on his chest. “Now I've done it every single race since I was seven years old and I have it in his handwriting on my wrist.”

From BFFs to portraits on skin

No blood ties were necessary when Australia’s Kyle Chalmers and Brazil’s Bruno Fratus decided to immortalise their bromance in permanent ink.

After the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the two sprinters challenged each other to get a tattoo of their “favourite swimmer”.

Shortly after Chalmers posted an Instagram story of his latest arm tattoo – a victorious Fratus celebrating in the water. The Brazilian reciprocated with a leg tattoo of Chalmers making a silencing gesture.

Putting friendships to ink is a familiar practice for Chalmers. In December 2022, the Australian star got teammate Matt Temple and Britain’s Adam Peaty to try out being tattoo artists with his own body serving as the canvas.

Peaty opted to tattoo his signature on Chalmers’ calf.

Temple also went for something personal, inking "48.34" on his teammate’s hip to commemorate his own butterfly leg in the men’s 4x100m medley relay at the 2022 World Swimming Championships (25m), which set up Chalmers to finish the race with a gold and a short course world record.

There are, of course, less drastic ways to celebrate close friendships.

Freya Anderson and Canada’s Sydney Pickrem got matching lion tattoos on their ankles, while former Texas roommates Carson Forster, Drew Kibler and Coby Carrozza marked their bond with crown tattoos on their pinkie fingers.

Words of wisdom

While some tattoos require near-forensic analysis to get at their meaning, others speak for themselves.

Some, like Giovanna Diamante’s “rain will make the flowers grow”, are a reassuring affirmation. Anderson’s “gratitude”, inked on the wrist, also has a grounding effect, similar to the “equilibrium” tattoo that Peaty and Italy’s Marco De Tullio both sport.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Thomas Flower needs only to look down at his ankles for a reminder to “create” “yourself”.

Kyle Chalmers’ tattoo collection is less subtle. His boldest, perhaps, is a large crown with a set of wings spread across the chest and the phrase “Nur die starken überleben” (only the strong survive) below.

“I learned German at school and studied German after school," Chalmers told World Aquatics. "That's why it's special for me to have a tattoo in German because it was my favourite subject at school and I was very interested in it."

Not to be lost among the many words of wisdom at the pool is Federico Poggio minimalistic advice to “Talk less”, tattooed on the Italian’s right shoulder.

Or, as some swimmers might say, talk less, ink more.