What do the 5 Coloured Rings represent on the Olympic Flag?

Question

What do the 5 Coloured Rings represent on the Olympic Flag?

Answer 1

The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914 ...: five intertwined rings in different colors - blue, yellow, black, green, red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition.

Answer 2

Apparently the Americas are counted as one and I suppose Antarctica doesn't have any representatives. Which leaves 5. That's their excuse anyway.

Answer 3

Five Continents of the world.

However, the wikipedia has the following to say about the rings.

"The emblem of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red respectively) on a white field. This was originally designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. These five rings stand for passion, faith, victory, work ethic and sportsmanship. Upon its initial introduction, de Coubertin stated the following in the August, 1913 edition of Revue Olympique:

The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914 ...: five intertwined rings in different colors - blue, yellow, black, green, red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition".

Answer 4

Years ago,i heard it represented the continents,but there are 7 continents & only 5 rings.....go figure !

Answer 5

The five rings represent the five continents. They are interlaced to show the universality of Olympism and the meeting of the athletes of the world during the Olympic Games.  On the Olympic flag, the rings appear on a white background. Combined in this way, the six colours of the flag (blue, yellow, black, green, red and white) represent all nations.  It is a misconception, therefore, to believe that each of the colours corresponds to a certain continent.

Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, explains the meaning of the flag :

“ 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. ” (1931)

Textes choisis, vol. II, p.470.

Answer 6

Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Heart.

Answer 7

the reason there are 5 rings instead of 7 is because north and south america are combined as one and antartica does not compete in the olympics

Answer 8

The five rings stand for passion, faith, victory, work ethic and sportsmanship. The colours themselves are not the key to it, it is just a side note by the designer, Pierre De Coubertin that the ring colors are also those colors that appeared on all the national flags of the world when it was designed. They stand for the five continents.