Combining OPI's Only Gold for Me and Bring on the Bling, Natalie Coughlin layered the two tones over her fingernails so they'd really pop under stadium lights.

The ladies of the London Olympics have shown both their love for glamour and their country by rocking some serious nail art.

Swimmer Natalie Coughlin took matters into her own hands — literally. “I don’t like to wear makeup when I swim. It’s a distraction,” she told TODAY.com. So instead, she expressed herself through her DIY mani. “I’m the designated team manicurist. I did these myself.”

Swimmer Lia Neal, who won bronze in the 4x100-meter freestyle race, showed off her medal — and her patriotic nails — for photographer Neil Leifer on the TODAY set. 

Neil Leifer

One accent nail on each of Lia Neal's hands features white stars against blue.

Her teammate, silver medalist Elizabeth Beisel, also posed for Leifer, sporting a sparkly set of blue glitter to accent her silver medal. She kept just one nail on each hand painted a bright red.
 

Neil Leifer

Elizabeth Beisel flaunts her medal and sparkly manicure after earning silver at the 400-meter individual medley.

The swim team aren't the only ones sporting decorated digits. Tennis star Venus Williams went for the colors of the American flag, accenting one nail with stars. Passion for flashing a fancy mani runs in the family: Sister Serena has been licensed to give manicures.
 

Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images

U.S. tennis player Venus Williams sports an ornate homage to her home country on her fingertips.

U.S. water polo player Heather Petri has a tradition: with every major championship, including the Olympic games, she has her nails done by the same manicurist. “She usually does an American flag,” she told TODAY.com. Petri’s team has never won a gold (they've previously brought home two silvers and a bronze), so she decided change was necessary. “We have not won the gold yet. And so when they did it this time I said don’t do a flag, do something different. So she decided to do hearts in red, white, and blue." 

Silver medalist Heather Petri added a gold heart to her pedicure.

At several P&G salons, sprinkled around London and set up by the Olympic sponsor to service visitors looking to celebrate their home countries, demand is high: They're doing 150 nail treatments a day. “We are expecting to deliver 25,000 treatments by the end of the games,” P&G spokesperson Catherine McMahon told TODAY.com. According to McMahon, the U.S. flag is currently leading in popularity for nail art, followed by Great Britain, Canada and Australia. “The most difficult designs to do are the ones based on the Bhutan and U.S. Virgin Island flags,” she said.  
 

For athletes, function is as important as design. Amanda Furrer, one of the shooters of the Olympic team, tweeted a photo of her nails, which feature the words “Team USA” and tiny American flags on the tips. She wrote, “I told my friend Kristen at Touch of Class Nails, ‘Make sure to shorten those two nails so I can pick up my bullets.’”

@Amanda_Furrer / Twitter

Shooter Amanda Furrer revealed her Olympic nail art in a tweet.

Slideshow: Olympic ink: Athletes show off their tats

Suhaib Salem / Reuters

Whether for good luck or to revel in a past win, Olympic athletes are sporting some serious tattoos. Check out the athletes who put their Olympic art on display.

Launch slideshow

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Natalie Coughlin may not be done making history just yet.

Heading into the Olympics, sports media had reported that the 4x100-meter freestyle relay would be Coughlin’s only London race. After tying the record for the most medals of any female Olympian in U.S. history with a bronze on Saturday, Coughlin told Matt Lauer on TODAY Monday that there is a chance she could swim another race. With a 13th medal, she'd set a new record. 

Coughlin, 29, said that there is a chance she could be part of another relay team before the conclusion of the Games, as she did not qualify for any of the individual events. The 4x100-meter medley relay is on Friday. In 12 races over the course of her Olympic career, Coughlin has medaled in all 12.  

“There’s a lot of factors that play into that,’’ Coughlin said about a potential race. “One of the great things about Team USA in swimming is we have so much depth and so much talent so we have options for the medley relays. That being said, I’m not trying to force myself on a relay. I’m there, and it’s 100 percent the coach’s decision.’’

The U.S. swim team coach, Teri McKeever, also is Coughlin’s personal coach. It was McKeever’s decision that resulted in an unorthodox medal for Coughlin on Saturday. Though Coughlin did not swim in the 4x100 relay final, she swam in the preliminary round, which by rule still earned her a medal. McKeever decided to leave her out of the final in favor of Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt, who swam an American-record time of 3:34.24 to finish third.

“I had a very, very fast relay takeoff (in the preliminary round), so I think that made them a little nervous, I don’t really know,’’ Coughlin said. “I was very supportive of the four that were up there and they did a fantastic job. I think a lot of it is (McKeever) wants to err on the side of being conservative being that she is my personal coach as well as the head coach.

“She told me and I was fine with it. A lot of the coaches were really supportive of me. It’s a hard thing, but I’m glad for the four girls.’’

Because she wasn’t part of the team that swam in the final, Saturday also marked the first time that Coughlin did not stand on the podium.

“I still haven’t had time to really process it, and I earned this medal in kind of a strange way,’’ she said. “This is the first time that I haven’t been on the medal podium myself, so very unceremoniously Teri gives it to me in a meeting, of course, but it’s a little strange.’’

While the assumption coming into London was that this would be the conclusion of Coughlin’s brilliant Olympic career, she did not completely rule out a potential run at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“My thoughts change on a daily basis,’’ she said. “I absolutely love swimming. I’m going to continue to train and be fit, so my thing is, if I’m healthy enough to compete, why not, because I love it. But I go back and forth, and right now I’m just trying to focus on this week.’’

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Swimmer Natalie Coughlin has medaled in every single Olympic event she has ever competed in. Impressive, considering London will mark her third time at the Games.  

Coughlin, 29, will compete in the 4x100 freestyle relay, having lost a spot in the 100m backstroke to Missy Franklin, 17, and Rachel Bootsma, 18.  

Coughlin, who spoke to Natalie Morales on TODAY, is keenly aware of the age difference between her and her closest competitors — and is using it to her advantage. "I'll embrace my role as a leader and the relay is the first day and in that relay I will do my best and then after that I will help everyone else as much as they need and want it," said the team veteran, who won the gold twice in Athens. In Beijing, she became the first American female to win six medals in a single Olympics Games. 

A relay win in London would bring her number of medals up to a dozen — tying her with swimmers Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres as the most decorated American female Olympian. 

Coughlin is training hard for her third Olympics, working out six hours a day, six days a week at the University of California Berkeley campus near her home. The training is only different because she's older, she said, "and wiser, much wiser. I train differently just because I need to focus on recovery more…I have way more power than I ever did, you know, eight years ago." 

Part of her training is perfecting technique: To avoid getting water up her nose during the backstroke, for instance, she uses her upper lip to plug her nose. "So it's not the most attractive thing ever," she told Morales. "I have a very flat, squishy nose. I think that helps." She must be doing something right, as she took home the gold in backstroke in both Athens and Beijing.

Coughlin has been busy: After Beijing, she took nearly two years off, spending the time on "Dancing with the Stars," marrying longtime boyfriend Ethan Hall and posing for Sports Illustrated wearing only body paint.

Coughlin lives on an organic farm in Berkeley with her husband, their chickens, dogs, and plenty of homegrown produce. 

And though the swimming star isn't quite ready to retire, London may be the last time she competes in the Olympics. "I really have no idea what I'm gonna do — if I'm gonna swim after London or not…I'll definitely take some time off." She said that while she would love to have kids at some point, "I haven't even thought about it. I'm so busy with my dogs and my chickens; I'm sure kids are probably a lot harder than that." 

Coughlin's 30th birthday lines up with another milestone celebration, as teammate Michael Phelps will be retiring. "I know Michael was saying that he wants to combine his retirement party with my 30th in Vegas," she said. "That sounds a little too big for me. But I'll definitely have a big celebration."

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