If you’ve caught the Olympics, you know the drill—athletes love getting those Olympic rings tattoos. It’s kinda like their ultimate badge of honor, and almost everyone’s got one, from Allyson Felix and Noah Lyles to Simone Biles and Suni Lee. Even Aussie swim star Brianna Throssell joined the club! She’s no stranger to the Olympic scene, either. She first showed up at Rio in 2016, going hard in the semis, and then made waves again at Tokyo 2021, competing in the 100m and 200m butterfly.

She even snagged a gold in the Women’s 4×100 medley relay and a bronze in the Mixed 4×100 relay with her epic butterfly leg in the heats. But here’s the real kicker—Brianna’s switching things up and getting her tattoo removed! Yep, you heard that right.

Brianna Throssell took to TikTok recently to spill the tea on her Olympic rings tattoo—yep, she’s getting it lasered off! She explained how, after the 2016 Rio Olympics, she got the rings inked in color on her wrist, thinking it was the coolest thing ever. But, over time, the black ink started running, and the yellow faded away completely. So, after Tokyo, she thought, “Why not cover it up in black?” Turns out, the original shop in Rio had closed, and when she found a new artist, they told her they couldn’t fix the black ink spread; they just covered the rest of the rings in black.

Showing the tattoo, she said, “It’s god awful,” even confessing she hides it with her Whoop band because she thinks it’s just too ugly to show. She decided it was finally time for a fresh start and started the laser removal journey, bringing fans along for the ride. After her first session, she admitted, “Yes, it hurt a bit, totally bearable, but it did hurt.”

The tattoo looked slightly faded, with some of the red color starting to reappear. It’ll take around eight sessions to fully remove the tattoo. She wrapped things up with some advice: “If this is a message to anyone, learn to do your research before choosing your tattoo artist. Don’t make a mistake like me.” Clearly, lesson learned! But Brianna Throssell isn’t the only Olympian saying goodbye to her Olympics rings tattoo—another Aussie athlete has done the same!

Another Olympian waves farewell to her iconic Olympics tattoo

While Australia celebrated a golden performance in Paris with 18 gold medals, not every athlete achieved their dream finish. For some, the post-Olympic slump can be tough. Take Georgie Parker, for example. She represented the Hockeyroos at Rio 2016 when they were ranked second, only to face a disappointing quarterfinal exit. Like many Olympians, she marked the occasion with an Olympic rings tattoo on her forearm. But now, Parker is in the process of having it removed, symbolizing her desire to close that chapter of her life.

Parker’s super honest about it all. Even after eight years, it’s still a tough pill to swallow. She shared, “The longer you’re away from it, the more you appreciate what you’ve done; it’s only a select few that can get there.” But she’s real about the envy, too. She admitted that while watching the Tokyo Games, she caught herself thinking, “I really don’t want my team to win a medal.” She called it that “little devil on your shoulder.”

Now, getting that tattoo removed? Total therapy for her.“Every time I looked at it, I was reminded of something that I didn’t achieve,” she explained. And when people would stop her on the street to chat about the Olympics, they’d hit her with that pity look when she mentioned no medals. She’s over it! With her psychologist backing her up, she said the process has been healing, like, “You can see that weight of the disappointment is starting to go the further this is going along in removal.”