“Lydia Ko’s Olympic Tattoo Reveals Her Legacy: ‘Something I’ll Have Forever’
New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko etched her Olympic legacy into the history books – and then, onto her skin. The 27-year-old, who became the sport’s most decorated Olympian last year as she took gold at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 to complete her medal collection that includes silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, commemorated her trifecta recently in a lasting way.
Ko, who inked the Olympic Rings on her bicep in 2019, turned to the same tattoo artist, Playground Tattoo in Korea, as she sought a design that could capture her historic feat – part of what landed her in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“I really like my Olympic Rings (tattoo)… and when I won the gold, I reached out to the tattoo artist that did my Rings and said, ‘Do you have any good ideas for the three (medals)?’” Ko shared. “He said, ‘How about a skyline?’ He asked me for three things that would signify the three cities: Christ the Redeemer, Mount Fuji, the Eiffel Tower. He came up with a couple of designs, and this is the one I liked.”
The three iconic landmarks of the Olympic host cities took on personal meaning in the final design, explains Ko. “The idea was, depending on what color medal I got, it’s taller, so even though Mount Fuji is the tallest (in real life), the Eiffel Tower is the tallest for me (and my tattoo),” she said. A lover of fine-line tattoos, Ko wanted her latest addition to fit seamlessly with her existing ink.
“All of my favorite (tattoos) are very fine lines; that was the theme I wanted to stick to,” she said. “I have a couple of bulky ones, and even though they’re nice, I think later down the road I should have got them fine-lined. I don’t know if I’ll get any more, but if I do, definitely fine lines from here now.”
Ko treasures both her journey through Olympic history and the permanent reminder of her historic feat. “I’m thankful that he came up with something that I’m going to have forever and really cherish,” Ko said.
Originally written on Olympics.com on Feb. 12, 2025
