Oi flag. What do the olympic rings mean. Mascots of the Olympic Games
Nearly 96 years after their introduction, many of us are still unaware of the meaning of the Olympic rings. To find out the meaning of the Olympic rings and their connection to the concept of the Olympic Games, then read on…
The Olympic Games, popularly known as the Olympiad, is a major sporting event in which thousands of athletes from all over the world compete in a variety of sports. There are two versions of this international sporting event - the Olympic Summer and Winter Olympic Games, each of which takes place alternately every two years.
History of Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games we see today are the invention of the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, who was inspired by the ancient Olympic festivals and decided to bring them to life. Many attempts were made to revive the game, but only Coubertin's efforts bore fruit in the late 19th century, thanks to his perseverance. After all, the International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 and the first modern Olympic Games were held two years later, in 1896 in Athens.
Symbols of the Olympic Games
A wide variety is used to represent the games: badges, flags, flames and other symbols that are used by the International Olympic Committee to promote the game throughout the year and especially during the games. The motto of the Olympic Games is Citius, Altius, Fortius, which in Latin means: "Faster, higher, stronger." The emblem of the Olympic Games is a design created by integrating the Olympic rings with one or more distinctive elements. The Olympic torch is accepted on all continents and accompanied to the venue of the games to light the Olympic flame and start the games. The Olympic flag, which was designed by Coubertin himself, sports five intertwined rings on a white background.
What do the olympic rings mean
Five intertwined rings, which are depicted 
on the flag of the Olympics are known as the Olympic rings. These rings are colored blue, yellow, black, green and red color, and intertwined with each other, in principle are the symbol of the Olympic Games. The Olympic rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. The five rings represent the five parts of the world: America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The Americas are treated as a single continent, while Antarctica and the Arctic were not taken into account. Despite the lack of a specific color to a specific continent or region, various theories about the meaning of the colors of the Olympic rings tend to associate them with various quotes. For example, at least one of the five colors among the Olympic rings is present on the flag of each of the participating countries. The five Olympic rings were adopted in 1914 and made their Olympic debut in Belgium in 1920.
When this emblem was introduced in August 1912, de Coubertin stated the following in the Revue Olympique: The emblem is chosen to illustrate and represents the World Congress of 1914...: five rings of different colors are intertwined - blue, yellow, black, green, red and placed on a white sheet of paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world that are now reviving the spirit of Olympism and are ready to accept healthy competition.
The purpose of the Olympic rings, according to the International Olympic Committee, is to reinforce the idea that the Olympic Movement is an international campaign and all countries of the world are invited to join it. Even the Olympic Charter recognizes the significance of the Olympic rings stating that they represent the union of the five continents as well as the gathering of athletes from all over the world for the Olympic Games. There is a strict code regarding the use of this symbol that must be followed under all circumstances. For example, even if the Olympic rings are shown on a black background, the black ring must not be replaced by a ring of a different color.
source en.wikipedia.org
Most of the inhabitants of our country know that one of the main attributes of the Olympic Games is the flag, which depicts multi-colored rings in a certain order. But few people can answer questions about the meaning of the Olympic rings, history and other facts related to the symbolism of the main sporting event around the world.
For a detailed analysis of the presented topic, it is necessary, first of all, to study the history of the creation of the Olympic rings, and also to understand why, for the entire period of their existence, despite the rather simple image of the symbols in question, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) did not change the existing emblem. After all, the rings remind us of the main world sporting event, only because we have seen a flag with multi-colored rings at the Olympics since childhood.
If you look at this symbolism objectively, discarding the idea of it that has formed throughout our life, it will be difficult to guess that this is one of the main attributes of the Olympic Games.
From the history of the creation of the main symbol of the Olympics
Back in 1914, the founder of the modern Olympic Games (Pierre de Coubertin) presented a white flag with multi-colored rings at the IOC Congress in Paris. Coubertin proposed to use this flag as the main symbol of the Olympic Games.
The congress participants approved this idea and decided to use the paraphernalia presented in 1916, but the First World War interfered, so the flag with multi-colored rings debuted only in the 20th year of the last century at the Olympic Games in Belgium.
On the World Wide Web, you can find the statement that the creator of the Olympic rings is the Greek Angelo Bolanchi (but even the authors of this version themselves do not give a 100% guarantee of its authenticity).
Adherents of the third version believe that the author of the Olympic rings was the world famous psychologist Carl Jung, who used ancient Chinese philosophy to create the legendary Olympic symbol.
Olympic rings on a white background were invented in 1912 by the "forefather" of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin (other sources claim that he only led a group of creators of sports symbols, performing administrative work).
It is worth paying attention to the fact that according to all the above versions, the Olympic rings were created in 2012, and the white flag came to us from Ancient Greece (as a symbol of peace and goodness).
The meaning of each Olympic ring: several versions
Until 1951, it was believed that the meaning of the Olympic rings in colors was comparable to a separate continent, whose inhabitants took part in the Olympic Games:
blue (first ring of the top row) - Europe;
black ring (2nd in the top row) - Africa;
red ring (3rd in the top row) - America;
the yellow ring in the bottom row is Asia;
the green ring in the bottom row is Australia.
But since the middle of the last century, in order to avoid accusations of racial discrimination, this theory of the meaning of the Olympic rings by colors depending on the continent has been gradually abandoned.
Another “deciphering” the meaning of the Olympic rings is based on the fact that in the flag of any country participating in sports competitions, you can find at least one of the six colors that are used to create symbols (five rings plus a white canvas background).
Not without Carl Jung, who (as mentioned above) was fond of ancient Chinese philosophy and knew well that according to this teaching, life energy and strength are attributed to the sign of the ring, and the world is ruled by metal, wood, earth, fire and water. Jung assigned his own ring to each energy and in parallel “attached” to each color of the Olympic ring the following meaning of a certain sport:
Blue is swimming.
Black is shooting.
Red - fencing.
Yellow is running.
Green - jumping.
Despite different views on the meaning of the Olympic rings, they all boil down to the fact that sport is a wonderful way to bring out the strongest in a fair fight, without death, grief and hatred.
How one of the main symbols has changed throughout its existence
It is hard to imagine that the Olympic rings have never changed their appearance since 1912. The first major change came in 1936 at the Olympics in Nazi Germany. Then all the rings were placed in one row, but the first, third and fifth rings were located a little higher from the others (due to this, the symbol looked like the original attribute). The second difference was that an eagle was drawn above the rings, and all the elements of this symbol were drawn using black and white paints.
At the Olympics in Italy (1960), the image of one of the main symbols of the Olympic Games was made voluminous, and the rings themselves were placed under the she-wolf (which, according to legend, nurtured Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome). If we trace all subsequent Olympics, we can conclude that each country where sports competitions were held tried to introduce its own original elements in order to highlight the main symbol of the Olympic Games.
But, despite the minor changes, to which none of the organizers of sports competitions pays much attention. The International Olympic Committee strictly monitors the main attributes of the Olympic Games (flag, anthem, medals, etc.). All emblems must have rings of the same size, arranged in a strictly regulated order. It is strictly forbidden to change the color of the rings or rearrange them, violating the established order. It is also not allowed to use the main world symbols of sports games for commercial purposes.
After analyzing the above information, we can conclude that changing the appearance of the symbols of the Olympic Games, which has existed for more than a hundred years, is at least unreasonable. Even people who are far from sports are well aware of these multi-colored rings of the Olympic Games, which during their existence have become not only sports paraphernalia, but also a symbol of friendship, peace and mutual understanding.
Our athletes are used to going to the Olympics without a flag and an anthem, and there is nothing wrong with that - 25 years ago, even under a neutral flag, our team was able to win the overall standings of the Olympic Games.
On Tuesday, December 12, at the Olympic meeting, it will be finally decided which of the Russian athletes will go to Pyeongchang under a neutral flag and who will not. Opinions on this issue were sharply divided - many high-ranking officials, coaches and athletes advocated a boycott of the Olympics. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin announced that the authorities were not going to interfere with the performance of Russians at the Games in Korea.
The absence of the Russian flag at the Games is perceived by many as a humiliation of Russian sports, but it is worth remembering that not so long ago, 25 years ago, our team also fought in full force not under their own colors, but under a white flag with Olympic rings. At the same time, those Games became one of the most successful in the history of our team, and the absence of a flag did not bother anyone, because the whole world knew perfectly well what kind of athletes they were even without national symbols.
Games in Albertville
In 1992, two Olympics took place at once - winter and summer. The Winter Games in February were hosted by the French town of Albertville. At the same time, the fate of our team, just like now, was unclear to the last. The USSR officially no longer existed, so each country had to create its own Olympic Committee and receive IOC accreditation. However, it was no longer possible to have time to do this before the Games in Albertville.
In this regard, the teams of the former Soviet Union were banned from performing under national flags. But they did give us a little indulgence: the IOC allowed six teams - Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan - to form the so-called "Joint Team". This team performed under the Olympic flag, but separately from other athletes with neutral symbols, for example, from the Yugoslav national team, which was not allowed into Albertville under national banners due to UN sanctions.
If usually athletes under a neutral flag fight only for themselves, then the United Team in Albertville had its own line in the medal standings. So our Olympians had something to fight for. Of course, the national team had to go to the opening ceremony with the white banner of the Olympic movement, but each athlete had a flag of his country in his hands, and the IOC, unlike the current situation, did not prohibit openly demonstrating their nationality.
Then in Albertville, thanks to the brilliant performance of skiers, figure skaters, biathletes and hockey players, our team took second place, losing only to the Germans. At the same time, the official name "Joint Team" sounded rarely - foreign commentators and correspondents called us either "Russians" or "CIS team".
Games in Barcelona
At the Summer Games in Spain in July 1992, the Joint Team expanded to six more countries - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan joined us. True, the association with other teams, along with obvious pluses, had negative sides.
Thus, in some sports, in order to please other CIS countries, Russia had to give way to athletes who were clearly weaker than the Russians. For example, the coach of the Ukrainian national team in rhythmic gymnastics, Irina Deryugina, forced Oksana Skaldina and Alexandra Timoshenko from Kiev to give up their places in the team. Because of this, the much stronger Russian woman Oksana Kostina, who won the World Cup seven times, lost her place at the base of the national team.
Photo: wikipedia.org The situation with the flag and anthem has also changed at the games in Barcelona. In the general table opposite the Joint Team, the neutral flag was still flaunting, it also rose into the sky when our team hit the medals in team sports. But if an athlete from the CIS won in the individual competition, the flag of his country was raised at the awards ceremony and the national anthem was played, not the anthem of the Olympic movement.
Such a split within the national team was only in the hands of our main competitors - the Americans. In many sports, due to internal contradictions, we did not receive medals, but even despite this, our team took first place in the overall standings, and by a wide margin. The United Team had 112 medals, of which 45 were of the highest standard.
The Olympic Games, popularly known as the Olympiad, is a major sporting event in which thousands of athletes from all over the world compete in a variety of sports. There are two versions of this international sporting event - the Olympic Summer and Winter Olympic Games, each of which takes place alternately every two years.
History of Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games we see today are the invention of the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, who was inspired by the ancient Olympic festivals and decided to bring them to life. Many attempts were made to revive the game, but only Coubertin's efforts bore fruit in the late 19th century, thanks to his perseverance. After all, the International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 and the first modern Olympic Games were held two years later, in 1896 in Athens.
Symbols of the Olympic Games
A wide variety of Olympic symbols are used to represent the games: badges, flags, flames and other symbols that are used by the International Olympic Committee to promote the game throughout the year and especially during the games. The motto of the Olympic Games is Citius, Altius, Fortius, which in Latin means: "Faster, higher, stronger." The emblem of the Olympic Games is a design created by integrating the Olympic rings with one or more distinctive elements. The Olympic torch is accepted on all continents and accompanied to the venue of the games to light the Olympic flame and start the games. The Olympic flag, which was designed by Coubertin himself, sports five intertwined rings on a white background.
What do the olympic rings mean
Five intertwined rings, which are depicted on the flag of the Olympics are known as the Olympic rings. These rings are colored c blue,yellow, black, green and red color, and intertwined with each other, in principle are the symbol of the Olympic Games. The Olympic rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. The five rings represent the five parts of the world: America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The Americas are treated as a single continent, while Antarctica and the Arctic were not taken into account. Despite the lack of a specific color to a specific continent or region, various theories about the meaning of the colors of the Olympic rings tend to associate them with various quotes. For example, at least one of the five colors among the Olympic rings is present on the flag of each of the participating countries. The five Olympic rings were adopted in 1914 and made their Olympic debut in Belgium in 1920.
When this emblem was introduced in August 1912, de Coubertin stated the following in the Revue Olympique: The emblem is chosen to illustrate and represents the World Congress of 1914…: five rings of different colors are intertwined - blue, yellow, black, green, red and placed on a white sheet of paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world that are now reviving the spirit of Olympism and are ready to accept healthy competition.
The purpose of the Olympic rings, according to the International Olympic Committee, is to reinforce the idea that the Olympic Movement is an international campaign and all countries of the world are invited to join it. Even the Olympic Charter recognizes the significance of the Olympic rings stating that they represent the union of the five continents as well as the gathering of athletes from all over the world for the Olympic Games. There is a strict code regarding the use of this symbol that must be followed under all circumstances. For example, even if the Olympic rings are shown on a black background, the black ring must not be replaced by a ring of a different color.
source en.wikipedia.org
The Olympics is already more than just a tournament, it is more than a sports competition, more than a cultural event. The Olympics is a lifetime. Although no, rather, the Olympics is an ideology. Yes, exactly, ideology.
And like any ideology, the Olympics has its own ideologists, such as Pierre de Coubertin, their “bibles”, such as the Olympic Charter, their oaths, hymns, heroes ... The Olympics also have their own symbols, the main of which are the flag and the coat of arms of the Olympics depicted on it - five rings of different colors intertwined with each other.
Symbols
Let's start with the main thing - five rings, a symbol that appears at all the Olympic Games without exception, since 1920.
On the classic Olympic flag, the rings are depicted on a white background, symbolizing world peace. This symbol came to us from ancient Greece, when all wars stopped during the Olympics and peace reigned over civilization. So in our time, the president of the International Olympic Committee, a few months before the games, goes to the headquarters of the United Nations, where he calls on all countries to stop hostilities for the duration of the Olympics. Not everyone, of course, listens to him, but this does not interfere with the symbol. So the white cloth invariably symbolizes peace.
On white, five intertwined rings of different colors are depicted. Each of them symbolizes one of the five parts of the world, whose representatives take part in the Olympics. The blue ring is Europe. Red - America. Yellow - Asia. Black - Africa. Green, of course, Australia. Blue, black and red are in the top row, yellow and green in the bottom row. Intertwined with each other, the rings symbolize the unity of all parts of the world, all continents, all races, peoples and countries in the face of sports.
Story
For the first time, the idea of using five multi-colored rings on a white background was voiced in 1913 by the first president and father of the founder of the modern Olympic Games, the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin. In the same year, the first copy of the Olympic flag was sewn in the Paris atelier Bon Marche.
The flag was first displayed to the public in 1914 in the hall of the Sorbonne during the celebrations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the modern Olympic movement. This copy is the official model and standard for all its subsequent modifications.
Poster for the 1936 Olympic Games. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The flag was first planned to be used at the 1916 Olympics. However, those Games were canceled due to the outbreak of the First World War in Europe. Therefore, for the first time, the audience saw a white flag with five interlaced rings in Antwerp, Belgium.
Since then, the flag has become an integral attribute of every Olympics, and the five Olympic rings, the coat of arms of the Olympics, have been used to create logos in different combinations and colors.
Logos
This symbol underwent maximum changes during the 1936 Olympics, held in the capital of Nazi Germany, Berlin. Instead of the already familiar rings arranged in two rows, the world saw a traditional German eagle holding rings in its paws. The rings, of course, were intertwined, but represented, rather, not two rows, but one. Remotely, traditions were respected, due to the fact that the first, third and fifth rings from this series were slightly raised compared to the rest. Both the eagle and the rings were made in black and white.
Emblem of the 1936 Olympics. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Since then, monochrome rings have often been used in the logos of the Olympic Games of different years, but never again their order and arrangement was violated.
The next innovation dates back to 1960, when the Games were held in Rome. The Italian Olympics, recalling the history of the first medals that were hung around the neck of athletes, were generally distinguished by innovations. Five rings were made in gray tones. The way they were depicted was new: for the first time the world saw the Olympic rings, as it is now fashionable to say, in 3D. The artists made them voluminous and placed them under the traditional Roman she-wolf, which, according to the legend, brought up the two brothers who founded the capital of Italy.
Perhaps the Mexicans, who got the right to host the 1968 Olympics, were more creative than the rest. The rings were "embedded" in the inscription Mexico68 and were an integral part of the numbers 68, standing out in them due to the color. The lower rings of the emblem formed the lower circles in the numbers 6 and 8.
Sochi
In Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympics will take place, five rings symbolizing the five parts of the world are used everywhere: on medals, on the uniforms of athletes and volunteers, in the Olympic flag, on all official buildings ... The Russians even decided to immortalize the five Olympic rings in architecture by placing five giant rings of different colors on one of the busiest interchanges in the region. One of the rings is located next to the road, the other serves as an arch, passing the roadway inside itself and hanging over the passing cars.
Sochi Olympic rings. Photo: RIA Novosti / Mikhail Mokrushin
However, in Sochi these rings are not intertwined. They are scattered around the interchange in random order. All of them are located so that it seems that a small part of them is dug into the ground, thanks to which they hold on, not falling on cars and people passing by.