Olympic symbols

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Olympic flag)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Olympic symbols are icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to elevate the Olympic Games. Some—such as the flame, fanfare, and theme—are more commonly used during Olympic competition, but others, such as the flags, can be seen throughout the years.The Olympic flag was created under the guidance of Baron Coubertin in 1913 and was released in 1914.But it was first hoisted in 1920 in Belgium at the Antwerp Olympic games in the main stadium.


The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger".[1] It was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin upon the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who was an athletics enthusiast.[2] Coubertin said "These three words represent a programme of moral beauty. The aesthetics of sport are intangible."[2] The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris.[3] A more informal but well-known motto, also introduced by Coubertin, is "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!" Coubertin got this motto from a sermon by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games.[4]


The five-ringed symbol of the Olympic Games

The rings are five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field, known as the "Olympic rings". The symbol was originally designed in 1912 by de Coubertin.[5] He appears to have intended the rings to represent the five continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.[6] According to Coubertin, the colours of the rings together with the white of the background included the colours composing every competing nation's flag at the time. Upon its initial introduction, Coubertin stated the following in the August 1912 edition of Olympique:[7]

... the six colours [including the flag's white background] combined in this way reproduce the colours of every country without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the tricolour flags of France, England, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Hungary, and the yellow and red of Spain are included, as are the innovative flags of Brazil and Australia, and those of ancient Japan and modern China. This, truly, is an international emblem.

In his article published in the Olympic Revue the official magazine of the International Olympic Committee in November 1992, the American historian Robert Barney explains that the idea of the interlaced rings came to Pierre de Coubertin when he was in charge of the USFSA, an association founded by the union of two French sports associations and until 1925, responsible for representing the International Olympic Committee in France: The emblem of the union was two interlaced rings (like the vesica piscis typical interlaced marriage rings) and originally the idea of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung: for him, the ring symbolized continuity and the human being.[8]

The 1914 Congress was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I, but the symbol and flag were later adopted. They would first officially debut at the Games of the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920.[9]

The symbol's popularity and widespread use began during the lead-up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Carl Diem, president of the Organizing Committee of the 1936 Summer Olympics, wanted to hold a torchbearers' ceremony in the stadium at Delphi, site of the famous oracle, where the Pythian Games were also held. For this reason he ordered construction of a milestone with the Olympic rings carved in the sides, and that a torchbearer should carry the flame along with an escort of three others from there to Berlin. The ceremony was celebrated but the stone was never removed. Later, two American authors, Lynn and Gray Poole, when visiting Delphi in the late 1950s, saw the stone and reported in their History of the Ancient Games[10] that the Olympic rings design came from ancient Greece. This has become known as "Carl Diem's Stone".[11] This created a myth that the symbol had an ancient Greek origin.

The current view of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is that the symbol "reinforces the idea" that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world to join.[12] As can be read in the Olympic Charter, the Olympic symbol represents the union of the "five continents" of the world and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. However, no continent is represented by any specific ring. Prior to 1951, the official handbook stated that each colour corresponded to a particular continent: blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Australia and Oceania, and red for the Americas; this was removed because there was no evidence that Coubertin had intended it (the quotation above was probably an afterthought).[13] Nevertheless, the logo of the Association of National Olympic Committees places the logo of each of its five continental associations inside the ring of the corresponding colour.

Different Types Of Flags[edit]

The International Olympic Committee
Olympic flag.svg
NameThe Olympic rings
Adopted14 August 1920
The Olympic flag flying in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in recognition of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver

The Olympic flag was created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1925.

The Olympic flag has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red. This design is symbolic; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.

— Pierre de Coubertin (1931)[14]

Specific flags used[edit]

There are specific Olympic flags that are displayed by cities that will be hosting the next Olympic games. During each Olympic closing ceremony in what is traditionally known as the Antwerp Ceremony,[15] the flag is passed from the mayor of one host city to the next host, where it will then be taken to the new host and displayed at city hall. These flags should not be confused with the larger Olympic flags designed and created specifically for each games, which are flown over the host stadium and then retired. Because there is no specific flag for this purpose, the flags flown over the stadiums generally have subtle differences, including minor color variations, and, more noticeably, the presence (or lack) of white outlines around each ring.

Antwerp flag[edit]

The first Olympic flag was presented to the Jr National Olympics at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, Belgium. At the end of the Games, the flag could not be found and a new Olympic flag had to be made for the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Despite it being a replacement, the IOC officially still calls this the "Antwerp Flag" instead of the "Paris Flag".[16] It was passed on to the next organizing city of the Summer Olympics or Winter Olympics until the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, when a separate Olympic flag was created to be used only at the Winter Olympics (see below). The 1924 flag then continued to be used at the Summer Olympics until the Games of Seoul 1988 when it was retired.

In 1997, at a banquet hosted by the US Olympic Committee, a reporter was interviewing Hal Haig Prieste who had won a bronze medal in platform diving as a member of the 1920 US Olympic team. The reporter mentioned that the IOC had not been able to find out what had happened to the original Olympic flag. "I can help you with that," Prieste said, "It's in my suitcase." At the end of the Antwerp Olympics, spurred on by teammate Duke Kahanamoku, he climbed a flagpole and stole the Olympic flag. For 77 years the flag was stored away in the bottom of his suitcase. The flag was returned to the IOC by Prieste, by then 103 years old, in a special ceremony held at the 2000 Games in Sydney.[17] The original Antwerp Flag is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a plaque thanking him for donating it.[18]

Oslo flag[edit]

The Oslo flag was presented to the IOC by the mayor of Oslo, Norway, during the 1952 Winter Olympics. Since then, it has been passed to the next organizing city for the Winter Olympics. Currently, the actual Oslo flag is kept preserved in a special box, and a replica has been used during recent closing ceremonies instead.[19]

Seoul flag[edit]

Flag of South Korea alongside an Olympic Flag in Olympic Park, Seoul

As a successor to the Antwerp Flag,[20] the Seoul flag was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, South Korea, and has since then been passed on to the next organizing city of the Summer Olympics. The Seoul flag is currently on display at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Rio de Janeiro flag[edit]

As a successor to the Seoul Flag,[21] the Rio flag was presented to the IOC at the 2016 Summer Olympics by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has since then been passed on to the next organizing city of the Summer Olympics, Tokyo.

Singapore flag[edit]

For the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, an Olympic flag was created for the junior version of the Games. The flag is similar to the Olympic flag, but has the host city and year on it and was first presented to Singapore by IOC President Jacques Rogge.[22][23] During the closing ceremony on 26 August 2010, Singapore officials presented it to the next organizing committee, Nanjing 2014.[24]

Innsbruck flag[edit]

For the inaugural winter Youth Olympic Games, an Olympic flag was presented to the IOC at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics by the city of Innsbruck, Austria, and has since then been passed on to the next organizing city of the Winter Youth Olympics.

Flame and torch relay[edit]

The modern tradition of moving the Olympic flame via a relay system from Greece to the Olympic venue began with the Berlin Games in 1936. Months before the Games are held, the Olympic flame is lit on a torch, with the rays of the Sun concentrated by a parabolic reflector, at the site of the Ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. The torch is then taken out of Greece, most often to be taken around the country or continent where the Games are held. The Olympic torch is carried by athletes, leaders, celebrities, and ordinary people alike, and at times in unusual conditions, such as being electronically transmitted via satellite for Montreal 1976, submerged underwater without being extinguished for Sydney 2000, or in space and at the North Pole for Sochi 2014. On the final day of the torch relay, the day of the Opening Ceremony, the Flame reaches the main stadium and is used to light a cauldron situated in a prominent part of the venue to signify the beginning of the Games.

Medals and diplomas[edit]

The Olympic medals awarded to winners are another symbol associated with the Olympic games. The medals are made of gold-plated silver – for the gold medals – silver, or bronze, and are awarded to the top three finishers in a particular event. Each medal for an Olympiad has a common design, decided upon by the organizers for the particular games. From 1928 until 2000, the obverse side of the medals contained an image of Nike, the traditional goddess of victory, holding a palm in her left hand and a winner's crown in her right. This design was created by Giuseppe Cassioli. For each Olympic games, the reverse side as well as the labels for each Olympiad changed, reflecting the host of the games.

In 2004, the obverse side of the medals changed to make more explicit reference to the Greek character of the games. In this design, the goddess Nike flies into the Panathenic stadium, reflecting the renewal of the games. The design was by Greek jewelry designer Elena Votsi.[25]

Olympic diplomas are given to competitors placing fourth, fifth, and sixth since 1949, and to competitors placing seventh and eighth since 1981.


The "Olympic Hymn", officially known as the "Olympic Anthem", is played when the Olympic flag is raised. It was composed by Spyridon Samaras with words from a poem of the Greek poet and writer Kostis Palamas. Both the poet and the composer were the choice of Demetrius Vikelas, a Greek Pro-European and the first President of the IOC. The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the 1896 Athens Olympic Games but wasn't declared the official hymn by the IOC until 1958. In the following years, every hosting nation commissioned the composition of a specific Olympic hymn for their own edition of the Games until the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley.

Other notable Olympic anthems and fanfares include:

The composer of the 1952 Olympic Fanfare, Aarre Merikanto, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium during the games.

Several other composers have contributed Olympic music, including Henry Mancini, Francis Lai, Marvin Hamlisch, Philip Glass, David Foster, Mikis Theodorakis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vangelis, Basil Poledouris, Michael Kamen, and Mark Watters.it had oath too : we swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in loyal competition, respecting the regulations which govern them and desirous of participating in them in the true spirit of sportsmanship for the honour of our country and for the glory of sports.


The kotinos (Greek: κότινος),[31] is an olive branch, originally of wild olive-tree, intertwined to form a circle or a horse-shoe, introduced by Heracles.[32] In the ancient Olympic Games there were no gold, silver, or bronze medals. There was only one winner per event, crowned with an olive wreath made of wild olive leaves from a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Aristophanes in Plutus makes a sensible remark as to why victorious athletes are crowned with a wreath made of wild olive instead of gold.[33] The victorious athletes were honoured, feted, and praised. Their deeds were heralded and chronicled so that future generations could appreciate their accomplishments.

Herodotus describes the following story which is relevant to the olive wreath. Xerxes was interrogating some Arcadians after the Battle of Thermopylae. He inquired why there were so few Greek men defending Thermopylae. The answer was "All other men are participating in the Olympic Games". And when asked "What is the prize for the winner?", "An olive-wreath" came the answer. Then Tigranes, one of his generals uttered a most noble saying: "Good heavens! Mardonius, what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for honour."[34]

However, in later times, this was not their only reward; the athlete was rewarded with a generous sum of money by his country. The kotinos tradition was renewed specifically for the Athens 2004 Games, although in this case it was bestowed together with the gold medal. Apart from its use in the awards ceremonies, the kotinos was chosen as the 2004 Summer Olympics emblem.

Olympic salute[edit]

The Olympic Salute sculpted by Gra Rueb, sculpted for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

The Olympic salute is a variant of the Roman salute, with the right arm and hand stretched and pointing upward, the palm outward and downward, with the fingers touching. However, unlike the Roman Salute, the arm is raised higher and at an angle to the right from the shoulder.[35][36] The greeting is visible on the official posters of the games at Paris 1924[35] and Berlin 1936.[37]

The Olympic salute has fallen out of use since World War II because of its strong resemblance to the Nazi salute.[38] It was used for the last time by the French team in the opening ceremony of the 1948 Winter Olympics.[39]


Since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, the Olympic Games have had a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. The first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Olympic flag or organization logos.

Intellectual property[edit]

The Olympic movement is very protective of its symbols; as many jurisdictions have given the movement exclusive trademark rights to any interlocking arrangement of five rings, and usage of the word "Olympic". The rings are not eligible for copyright protection, both because of their date of creation and because five circles arranged in a pattern do not reach the threshold of originality required to be copyrighted.

The movement has taken action against numerous groups alleged to have violated their trademarks, including the Gay Games; the Minneapolis-based band The Hopefuls, formerly The Olympic Hopefuls; the Redneck Olympics or Redneck Games; Awana Clubs International, a Christian youth ministry who used the term for its competitive games; and Wizards of the Coast, publisher at the time of the IOC's complaint of the card game Legend of the Five Rings.

In 1938, the Norwegian brewery Frydenlund patented a label for its root beer which featured the five Olympic rings. In 1952, when Norway was to host the Winter Olympics, the Olympic Committee was notified by Norway's Patent Office that it was Frydenlund who owned the rights to the rings in that country. Today, the successor company Ringnes AS owns the rights to use the patented five rings on its root beer.[40] In addition, a few other companies have been successful in using the Olympic name, such as Olympic Paint, which has a paintbrush in the form of a torch as its logo, and the former Greek passenger carrier Olympic Airlines.

Certain other sporting organizations and events have been granted permission by the IOC to use the word "Olympics" in their name, such as the Special Olympics, an international sporting event held every four years for people with intellectual disabilities.

In recent years, organizing committees have also demanded the passing of laws to combat ambush marketing by non-official sponsors during the Games – such as the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 – putting heavy restrictions on using any term or imagery that could constitute an unauthorized association with the games, including mere mentioning of the host city, the year, and others.[41][42]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "What is the Olympic motto?". International Olympic Committee. 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Opening Ceremony" (pdf). International Olympic Committee. 2002. p. 3. Retrieved 23 August 2012.; "Sport athlétique", 14 mars 1891: "[...] dans une éloquente allocution il a souhaité que ce drapeau les conduise 'souvent à la victoire, à la lutte toujours'. Il a dit qu'il leur donnait pour devise ces trois mots qui sont le fondement et la raison d'être des sports athlétiques: citius, altius, fortius, ‘plus vite, plus haut, plus fort’.", cited in Hoffmane, Simone La carrière du père Didon, Dominicain. 1840 - 1900, Doctoral thesis, Université de Paris IV — Sorbonne, 1985, p. 926; cf. Michaela Lochmann, Les fondements pédagogiques de la devise olympique „citius, altius, fortius“
  3. ^ Games of the VIII Olympiad - Paris 1924 Archived 3 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "The Olympic Summer Games" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Olympics: Symbols and Traditions". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  6. ^ Lennartz, Karl (2002). "The Story of the Rings" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. 10: 32. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  7. ^ Lennartz, Karl (2002). "The Story of the Rings" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. 10: 31. Retrieved 7 January 2016. De plus les six couleurs ainsi combinées reproduisent celles de toutes les nations sans exception. Le bleu et jaune de Suède, le bleu et blanc de Grèce, les tricolores français, anglais, américain, allemand, belge, italien, hongrois, le jaune et rouge d'Espagne voisinent avec les innovations brésilienne ou australienne, avec le vieux Japon et la jeune Chine. Voilà vraiment un emblème international.
  8. ^ Robert Knight Barney (November 1992). "This Great Symbol" (PDF). Olympic Review (301). Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  9. ^ Findling, John E.; Pele, Kimberly D., eds. (30 March 2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement. Greenwood Press. pp. 65, 75. ISBN 978-0313322785. Retrieved 29 December 2015. (Subscription required (help)).
  10. ^ Poole, Lynn; Poole, Gray Johnson (1963-01-01). History of ancient Olympic games,. New York: I. Obolensky.
  11. ^ "Logos & Mascots". 27 February 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2007.
  12. ^ "The Olympic symbols" (PDF). IOC. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2007. [Broken link]
  13. ^ "Decision adopted by the Executive Committee" (PDF). Bulletin du Comité International Olympique (Olympic Review). Lausanne: IOC (25): 32. January 1951.
  14. ^ "The Olympic Flag". Extract from: Textes choisis II, p.470. (written in 1931). Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
  15. ^ "Olympic Charter" (PDF). The International Olympic Committee. 2 August 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Vancouver 2010: The Olympic Flags the Closing Ceremony of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, the flag was passed on to the next Olympic Games city, Seoul, and then retired. [emphasis added]". Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  17. ^ Sandomir, Richard (12 September 2000). "Missing Flag Returns to Glory, Courtesy of a Prankster". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Después de ochenta años le remordió la conciencia" [After Eighty Years, Conscience Kicked Him] (in Spanish). Montevideo: La Red21 Radio. 12 September 2000. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  19. ^ "Vancouver 2010: The Olympic Flags and Emblem". Retrieved 1 March 2010. Because it is so precious, and must be preserved for years to come, the Oslo flag is not used during the actual Closing Ceremony. Instead, a replica flag is traditionally used.
  20. ^ "Vancouver 2010: The Olympic Flags and Emblem". Retrieved 1 March 2010. The successor to the Antwerp Flag, the Seoul flag was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Olympic Games in the Seoul Summer Olympics, South Korea.
  21. ^ "Olympic Flag arrives in Tokyo ahead of 2020 Games". Retrieved 11 September 2016. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes handed the Flag over to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike during the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium on Sunday (August 21).
  22. ^ "Singapore 2010 Presented With Special Olympic Flag". Gamebids.com. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  23. ^ "S'pore presented with special Olympic flag". Channel NewsAsia. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012.
  24. ^ "Olympic flag handed to mayor of Nanjing". Sina Corp. 27 August 2010.
  25. ^ Juergen Wagner (2 July 2003). "Olympic Games Winner Medal 2004". Olympic-museum.de. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  26. ^ Heikinheimo, Seppo (1985). Aarre Merikanto: Säveltäjänkohtalo itsenäisessä Suomessa [Aarre Merikanto: The fate of the composer in independent Finland] (in Finnish). Helsinki: WSOY. pp. 465, 467, 473, 479. ISBN 978-9510133194.
  27. ^ "Herbert Rehbein". Songwriters Hall of Fame. 1993. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  28. ^ Guegold, William K. (June 1996). 100 Years of Olympic Music (Music and Musicians of the Modern Olympic Games 1896-1996). Golden Clef Publishing. pp. 56–58. ISBN 978-0965237109.
  29. ^ "The John Williams Web Pages: Olympic Fanfare and Theme". Johnwilliams.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  30. ^ http://www.altoriot.com/the-music-behind-nbcs-sochi-olympic-promos-the-greatest-sports-theme-no-one-can-name/
  31. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). κότινος [Olive Branch]. A Greek–English Lexicon (in Greek). Clarendon Press.
  32. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.7.7
  33. ^ Aristophanes, Plutus, 585.
  34. ^ Herodotus, The Histories, Hdt. 8.26
  35. ^ a b Droit, Jean (1924). "Paris 1924 - Jeux Olympiques". Olympic Games Museum. Archived from the original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  36. ^ Schaap, Jeremy (2007). Triumph: the untold story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 163–166. ISBN 978-0-618-68822-7. (Subscription required (help)).
  37. ^ "Olympic Games 1936 Berlin: Poster". Olympic Games Museum. 1936. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  38. ^ "The Official Olympic Salute Stopped Being Popularly Used After WWII Due to Strongly Resembling the "Heil Hitler" Salute". Today I Found Out. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  39. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfaFnZ6sEnY/%7Ctitle= Full St. Moritz 1948 Official film ; see 13:15 to 13:20
  40. ^ "Norwegian Patent Office record of the Frydenlund patent, showing the design". 1 November 1938. Retrieved 20 November 2016. Ringnes is the family name of the company's founders.
  41. ^ Anderson, Steve (18 July 2012). "The Debate: Have Olympic sponsorship regulations gone too far?". The Debate (blog)(The Independent). London. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  42. ^ O'Sullivan, Feargus (13 June 2012). "The Pettiness of Olympic Branding". The Atlantic. Washington D.C. Retrieved 21 July 2012.

External links[edit]