Paralympian who had Olympic rings tattoo spoke out after rule change meant he could be banned from Games

An athlete who had a tattoo of the Olympic rings spoke out after a rule change threatened his participation at the Paralympics.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has a rule against 'body advertising', with athletes previously having been disqualified from events for breaching the rule.

All athletes are reminded about the regulations before every meeting, with those who would fall foul of the rules able to cover up their tattoos if necessary.

Naturally, though, that solution is a slight problem for swimmers - given that covers can wear off in the pool while they are racing.

At London 2012, United States athlete Rudy Garcia-Tolson won the silver medal in the men's 200m individual medley. He competed in the SM7 category - a classification which includes athletes with one leg and one arm amputation on opposite sides, double leg amputations or a paralysis of one arm and one leg on the same side.

But there was some controversy after the end of the race, with the cover that had been used to hide Garcia-Tolson's Olympic rings tattoo having disappeared during the race.

The American revealed he covered the rings tattoo with a marker, but that it wore off by the time he jumped into the pool.

With rules being less stringent and strictly enforced compared to today, however, he was able to keep his silver medal.

Ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Garcia-Tolson made his feelings clear about the 'body advertising' regulations in an interview with NBC Sports: "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.

"We [Garcia-Tolson and his American team-mates] feel like we should be treated no differently than our Olympic team-mates.

"The title, the names, to me it's just kind of unimportant. Who's to say in 20 years we don't have the same logo [as the Olympics]?"

Garcia-Tolson, who was born with popliteal pterygium syndrome and decided to have both legs removed above the knee at the age of five, is a two-time gold medalist at the Paralympics and has competed at every Games since 2000.