Olympic broadcast spotlights meaning behind beach volleyball star Kelly Cheng's Fullmetal Alchemist tattoo

On Sunday, Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng defeated the Czech Republic in beach volleyball. There was never a doubt for the dynamic duo, sweeping their opponent 2-0. During the match, a sharp eye spotted an unusual tattoo on Cheng’s rib cage, reading “A heart made fullmetal.”

The quote is an homage to the popular Japanese manga “Fullmetal Alchemist,” which was serialized from July 2001 to June 2010 before being adapted into an anime series and multiple films. During the match, broadcasters explained the meaning behind Cheng’s tattoo.

“Kelly [Cheng] said, ‘So tough when we broke up. I felt like a lost puppy.’ And part of that mourning process was this tattoo. Fullmetal Alchemist, it says a lesson without pain is meaningless for you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else, but if you can endure the pain, you walk away. You’ll find you have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle.”

Kelly Cheng’s Full Metal Alchemist tattoo is raw pic.twitter.com/ZGNl5EmHDz

— Bennett Herbert (@bendog28) July 28, 2024

Cheng had two professional partners before taking the sand with Hughes: Sarah Sponcil (2018-21) and Betsi Flint (2021-22). While Cheng found no shortage of success with her previous teammates, she has reached new heights with Hughes.

Ironically, Cheng’s history with Hughes didn’t start at the professional level. Cheng and Hughes both attended USC, where they won 103 consecutive matches and secured the sport’s first two NCAA titles. However, the accomplished pair went their separate ways after reaching the professional level.

Nonetheless, with hopes to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cheng’s mind drifted back to her wildly successful stint with Hughes. In 2022, Cheng reached out to Hughes and met with her over a cup of coffee. By the end of the meeting, they were partners again and began training for the 2024 Olympics.

“We hadn’t played together for five years,” Hughes told NBC Sports in April. “We’ve seen each other. We’ve talked to each other, but we had to come to terms with a lot of things, apologize to each other, see what our goals were, so there was a lot going on.”

In 2023, Cheng and Hughes reminded the world of their chemistry when they became the first American team to win the world championships in 14 years. Now, Cheng and Hughes are ready to another piece of hardware to their collections.

“We have really good chemistry. Our styles of play complement each other really well,” Cheng told Olympics.com. “We’re both at the same stages of life and on the same page with a lot of things. And I think that’s just helped us fight hard together and fight for each other on and off the court, which I think is really important.”