Plenty of competitors choose to ink their skin with the Olympic rings to commemorate their time and achievements throughout the games. This is nothing new.

However, this iconic symbol, first created by Pierre de Coubertin, could get participants banned from competing at the 2024 Paralympics.

This is down to a bizarre rule which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) enforces, which forbids athletes from 'body advertising'.

The IPC is a separate entity from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and therefore the iconic emblem still falls under this umbrella - and athletes are awarded no special treatment.

Retired Paralympian Josef Craig found this out the hard way ahead of the 2016 Games in Rio, as the Brit swimmer was penalised for showing off his tattoo of the Olympic rings on his chest.

While competing at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Portugal, the 27-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, won his heat in the S8 100m freestyle competition, but was then disqualified.

Despite his incredible performance, he lost out on the title because of his tattoo.

Craig got creative to hide his tattoo, wearing coverings and even painting over the rings with a picture of the Union Jack to avoid being penalised.

Following Craig's disqualification from the European Championships, a spokesperson for IPC 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."