At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Lydia Ko not only won the gold medal in the women’s golf tournament at Le Golf National, she also completed a full set of medals having won silver in 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Games and bronze at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Now, she has debuted a new tattoo honoring those achievements.
The New Zealander is no stranger to getting tattooed. Among her collections are the Olympic rings, which were etched onto her bicep after her first appearance in the Games. Another is the Roman Numerals of the date of her first win, which is inked on her right wrist.
For her latest tattoo, Ko was keen to get a design that incorporated all three Olympic medals, so she consulted with the same artist who had given her the Olympic rings inking.
She told Olympics.com: “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]?’
"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 black fine line design not only depicts the three iconic landmarks, but the size of each is appropriate to the medal she won, meaning the outline of Mount Fuji is the smallest, with Christ the Redeemer next and the Eiffel Tower the tallest of the three.
Imagine winning an Olympic medal in every colour! 🥇🥈🥉Team New Zealand's golfing star Lydia Ko did just that, and got a tattoo to celebrate. ⛳Hit the link below to read more about her. ⬇️https://t.co/k8726ohukV📸 IG: lydsko pic.twitter.com/oilBS5iLNMFebruary 21, 2025
Ko, who earned her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame following her win in Paris, has not written off the chance of getting more tattoos in the future, although she insists that if she does, they will be in a similar style.
She said: “All of my favorite [tattoos] are very fine lines; that was the theme I wanted to stick to. 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.”
Considering the long list of achievements Ko has amassed in her career, which includes three Majors among 22 LPGA Tour wins, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she collected more tattoos based on future success in the game alone.
