Although tattoos are not as old as mankind, they have been documented for more than 5,000 years and have been created independently of each other all over the world - and therefore have very different meanings. They could be of a religious nature, signal membership of a particular group or simply represent body jewellery. In the western world, they were long considered a stigma of convicts, soldiers or sailors, but today even large tattoos that are visible in everyday life have become commonplace; in Germany, around half of young people up to the age of 30 are said to have tattoos.
There are many tattoos in cycling
Tattoos seem to be particularly widespread in sport - but this impression may also be due to the fact that sportswear is usually tight and leaves many parts of the body exposed, which inevitably brings the colourful ink images to light, especially as the arms, legs and upper body are certainly not only the most popular places for tattoos among athletes.
Even among cyclists, the reasons for tattoos are as varied as the motifs. Former top German sprinter André Greipel, for example, has the names of his two daughters Anna and Luna immortalised on his right forearm. Dutch professional cyclist Dylan Groenewegen has a picture of a lion cub on his right arm with the name 'Mayson' - his son, born in 2021. Greipel's former sprinter colleague Erik Zabel wears a little devil on his left shoulder. The former Italian professional cyclist Filippo Pozzato wears the phrase "Only God can judge me" large on his shoulders as a confession.
Performance can be impaired by tattoos
As popular as tattoos are among athletes: There are now scientific studies showing that tattoos can cause performance losses of between three and five per cent in top athletes such as professional footballers. A tattoo applied at the wrong time can therefore make the difference between victory and defeat in a close competition among the world's best.
Experts assume that large tattoos impair the skin's ability to sweat and therefore thermoregulate - an aspect that is of considerable importance in sport. Smaller tattoos, on the other hand, are probably unproblematic - and as motifs of self-motivation or affirmation for their wearers, they are certainly far more important than the health aspect.
