Here’s the meaning behind the Olympic Rings
The Olympic Rings are a popular symbol of the Olympics and this is the story of these five rings with different colors.
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, convened a congress in Paris to revive the ancient Olympic Games in 1894. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee was established and was given the task of planning the 1896 Athens Games.
Then, the 1912 Stockholm Games happened and athletes from all five inhabited parts of the world joined. After that, a design of five interlocked rings, drawn and colored by hand, appeared at the top of a letter Coubertin sent to a colleague, based on the article in Mental Floss.
Coubertin used this design of five rings as the emblem of the IOC’s 20th-anniversary celebration in 1914. In 1915, this became the official Olympic symbol.
At the 1916 Games, the Olympic Rings were to be used on flags and signage. However, this was canceled because of World War I. The symbol officially had its debut at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium.
In 1931, Coubertin explained his theory behind the rings. The five rings, the color blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background represented the five inhabited continents of the world, “united by Olympism, while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.”
He gave an indirect interpretation of the “continent” that included Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, and he did not express that any specific ring represents a specific continent. It is because the symbol was created as a logo for the IOC’s 20th anniversary and it only became a symbol of the Olympics later on.
The modern inspiration for this symbol stated that the rings were inspired by a similar, ancient design found on a stone at Delphi, Greece. However, it is just a modern prop.