Missy Franklin will celebrate any success she might have in her seven events at the London Aquatics Centre for eight days from Saturday with an Olympic rings tattoo.

"I'm definitely going to get a tattoo," the 17-year-old told Reuters at a pre-Olympic training camp with US teammates in Vichy, France. "I'm going to get it after the Games."

She will be keeping a long tradition going, legion the numbers of international swimmers with a tattoo of rings that many a shopkeeper, trader and even media outfit cannot show an image of lest Olympic bosses come down heavy on them. 

Franklin, who described having blood taken by anti-doping testers as "fun" of late and endures a hefty workload in the pool, said she wasn't worried about the pain.

 "I'm actually really good with needles so I think I'll be ok," she said.

Perhaps her parents would disapprove, she was asked. "My parents are fine with it. I think they're just as excited as I am," said Franklin. "I've seen them on all the other athletes and it's so cool. I've used it as my motivation because it's the only tattoo I'm going to get."

And she'll be placing it, discreetly, on her right hip.