| Date: |
Monday, January 1, 2001
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| Question/Topic: |
Olympics - Olympic Rings
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| Answer/Pointer: |
Q. What do the Olympic rings stand for?
A. The five interlocking rings on a white background stand for the five parts of the world that
had countries competing in the 1920 Olympics: Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania (Australia and the islands around it),
and North America (countries from South America did not compete then.) The flag was designed in 1914 for use
in the 1916 Olympics, but the games were called off because of World War I. Nowadays , the ring for North America
symbolizes both North and South America. The symbols are used around the world to stand for the international games.
According to a spokesman for the Los Angeles Olympic Games: "The five rings symbolize the union of the five continents
and themeeting of athletes from all over the world at the Olympic Games in a spirit of fair and frank competiton and good
friendship. The colors of the rings are blue, yellow, blac, green and red on a white background. At least one of those
colors is found in the flag of every nation of the world. . . ."
Source: various undocumented clippings. See Problem Box under Olympic rings.
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| Librarian: |
LCLCPL
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| Comments: |
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