Missy Franklin may have been wearing pearl earrings when she won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, but now the star swimmer is sporting a different, more permanent accessory: a tattoo.
On Thursday, the 17-year-old tweeted a picture of a small, colorful tattoo of the Olympic rings on her hip.
But Franklin's desire to get inked hasn't exactly been a secret. She previously told reporters she was interested in getting a tattoo after the games were over, according to the Associated Press.
And her decision was fine by dad.
"This will be the only one, and she's earned it,'' Dick Franklin told TODAY.com.
Franklin now joins the ranks of other Olympic athletes -- and fellow swimmers -- who've gotten similar tattoos: Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps both sport tattoos of the Olympic rings, the AP notes.
Franklin left London with an impressive total of five medals, but it's only the beginning for the young swimmer, who will be graduating high school next year.
Though Franklin is leaning toward swimming at the college level, the decision to turn down a professional career wasn't as easy as she once thought it would be.
“I think it’s made my decision a lot more difficult because I’ve been able to see the benefits and everything and how people get these sponsorships and what it’s like for them and how much fun they’re having and seeing those and kind of wanting that, wanting to be a part of it and having it be so hard to turn it down," Franklin said during an Olympic news conference, the Associated Press reported.
But as the Colorado native moves on to new endeavors, the calm, cool teen America fell in love with intends to remain true to herself.
"The only expectations that I think about are my own and the people that I really care about -- my coach, my family -- and those expectations are just to have fun," Franklin told NBC's Matt Lauer during the games.