The Olympic Flag, Its Symbolism and History

The Olympic Games are full of symbolism. The official emblem of the Olympic Games is five interlocked rings of different colors (blue, yellow, black, green, and red) on a white background.

The emblem was designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who founded the International Olympic Committee in 1913.

The emblem was adopted by the International Olympic Committee in 1914 and was first displayed at the Olympic Games that were held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920.

The Olympic emblem is emblazoned on the Olympic Flag. The Olympic flag has a white background with the five rings in blue, yellow, black, green, and red on the foreground. The five rings represent the five inhabited continents of earth, and the six colors included in the Olympic flag are the six colors that appear on all of the national flags of the world today.

One Olympic flag is raised during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games and lowered during the closing ceremonies. Another Olympic flag is used when the Olympic oath is administered. During the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games, the mayor of the host city passes the flags to the mayor of the city that will next host the games.

The ceremony of passing the flag from one Olympic hosing city to the next is called the "Antwerp Ceremony" because that is where the tradition began. There are three Olympic flags that differ from all other copies of the Olympic flag. They have a five-colored fringe around them, and they are tied with five colored ribbons to a flagstaff.

The same flag was used beginning at the 1920 Olympic Games until the 1984 Olympic Games. The flag was called the Antwerp Flag because that is where the tradition began. The Antwerp Flag was retired in 1984 and is on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In 1988 the Seoul Flag was presented to the IOC at the Olympic Games that were held in Seoul, South Korea, and is the flag that is used today.