Swimming is well underway at the Paris Olympics, which is giving sport fans a chance to enjoy the action – and a glimpse of some dark red circles on athletes’ bodies.

The trend is partly due to legendary swimmer Michael Phelps who was seen with the marks in 2016 . Since then, Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers has also been seen with the dark red circles on his skin in Tokyo 2020 on his way to winning 100m freestyle silver.

And in Paris 2024, US endurance great Katie Ledecky won bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle while bearing the marks.

On Sunday evening, it was the turn of Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi to win the final of the men's 100m breaststroke while bearing red circular marks on his back.

But despite the apparent success that comes with athletes bearing the marks it is n

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