Paralympic champion swimmer, Josef Craig, has been disqualified from the IPC European Championships S8 100m freestyle final for failing to cover up a tattoo featuring the Olympic rings on the left hand side of his chest.
The 19-year-old, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was set to feature in the final of the event on Sunday in Madeira, Portugal having qualified in the opening heat but was disqualified for failing to comply with Olympics' rules on body advertising.
An IPC spokesman 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 so it wasn't as if they had not been reminded about the rules."
Josef was eligible to compete today in the S8 400m freestyle after covering his tattoo and qualified in a time of 4:42:09.
A time of 4:42:09 for @JosefCraig sees him qualify for the Men's 400m Freestyle S8 final! 👠#Funchal2016 pic.twitter.com/f8NcrZ5GxK
— C4 Paralympics (@C4Paralympics) May 2, 2016
Craig finished first in the London Paralympics in 2012 in the S7 400m Freestyle race and has also collected further golds at Montreal in 2013 and broke a host of British records since then.
