The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags, and symbols to represent and enhance the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competitions such as the flame, fanfare, and theme as well as those used both during and outside competition, such as the Olympic flag.
The Olympic flag was created in 1914 under the guidance of Baron de Coubertin of France. It was first hoisted in Alexandria, Egypt, in Old Shatby Stadium which is now located in Al Ittihad Alexandria Club, at the 1914 Pan-Egyptian Games. The five rings on the flag represent the inhabited continents of the world (the Americas considered as one continent). It contains the colours blue, black, red, yellow, and green, which are common on national flags globally.
Motto and creed
The original Olympic motto is the hendiatris "Citius, Altius, Fortius," Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger" (also "Swifter, Higher, Stronger.") The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin upon the creation of the IOC. Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who was an athletics enthusiast. Coubertin said that "these three words represent a programme of moral beauty. The aesthetics of sport are intangible". The motto was introduced at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Coubertin's Olympic ideals are expressed in the Olympic creed:
L'essentiel est de participer. L'important n'est pas de triompher, mais de lutter. L'essentiel n'est pas d'avoir vaincu, mais d'avoir bien combattu.
[The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.]
— Pierre de Coubertin
Coubertin got this text from a sermon by Bishop of Central Pennsylvania Ethelbert Talbot, during the 1908 London Games.
In 2021, the IOC approved the addition of the word "together", after an en dash, to the motto. It now reads "Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter", Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together" (French: "Plus vite, Plus haut, Plus fort – Ensemble"). According to some Italian Latinists, such as professor Mario De Nonno and professor Giorgio Piras, the concept of acting together is not properly conveyed by communis nor communiter. De Nonno suggested an adverb such as Una meaning "as one".
Olympic Rings
The Olympic rings consist of five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. The symbol was originally created in 1913 by Coubertin. The official Olympic charter section 8 on the official Olympic website states: "The Olympic symbol expresses the activity of the Olympic Movement and represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games." Coubertin originally meant the number of rings to "represent the five parts of the world now won over to Olympism." According to Coubertin, the colours of the rings, along with the white background, represented the colours of every competing country's flag at the time. Upon its initial introduction, Coubertin stated the following in the August 1913 edition of Olympique:
... 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, the United Kingdom, 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 November 1992 in the Olympic Revue, the official magazine of the IOC, American historian Robert Barney explained that the idea of the interlaced rings came to Coubertin when he was in charge of the USFSA. This association was founded by the union of two French sports associations and, until 1925, was responsible for representing the IOC in France. The emblem of the USFSA was two interlaced rings. Barney noted that Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung considered circles to symbolise wholeness and that their linkage symbolized continuity.
The 1914 Olympic Congress was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I, so the symbol and flag officially debuted at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
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 for the 1936 Summer Olympics, wanted to hold a torchbearers's ceremony in the stadium at Delphi, the site of the famous oracle where the Pythian Games were also held. For this reason, he ordered the 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, 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 that the Olympic rings design came from ancient Greece. This has become known as "Carl Diem's Stone". This created a myth that the symbol had an ancient Greek origin.
The current view of the IOC is that the symbol "reinforces the idea" that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world to join. 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. The 1949–50 edition of the IOC's "Green Booklet" stated that each colour corresponded to a particular continent except for Antarctica: "blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Australia, and red for North America and South America. This assertion was reversed in 1951 because there was no evidence that Coubertin had intended it: "at the very most he might perhaps have admitted it afterwards". Nevertheless, the pre–2014 logo of the Association of National Olympic Committees placed the logo of each of its five continental associations inside the ring of the corresponding colour.
An Olympic Rings emoji was added to WhatsApp on 24 July 2016 in version 2.16.7, it was later removed on 15 August 2016 in version 2.16.9. It consisted of five U+25EF ◯ LARGE CIRCLE characters joined with U+200D ZERO WIDTH JOINERs, forming a joined character sequence. This was presumably part of a temporary agreement with the International Olympic Committee.
Different types of flags
Pierre de Coubertin created the Olympic flag in 1913.
The emblem selected to illustrate and represent the 1914 World Congress which was to place the final seal on the restoration of the Olympics began to appear on various preliminary documents: five rings linked at regular intervals, their various colors – blue, yellow, black, green and red – standing out against the white of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world now won over to Olympism, ready to accept its fruitful rivalries. In addition, the six colours 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 tricolor flags of France, the United Kingdom, 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. It was made to be turned into a flag, and the look of the flag would be perfect. It is a light, appealing flag, a delight to see fluttering in the wind. Its meaning is largely symbolic. Its success is assured, to the point that after the Congress it can continue to be raised on solemn Olympic occasions.
— Pierre de Coubertin (1913)
Specific flags used
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 or Oslo Ceremony, 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 city and displayed at its city hall. These special flags should not be confused with the larger Olympic flags manufactured specifically for each Games, which are flown over the stadium during the duration of the Games and then retired. As there is no specific flag for this purpose, the flags flown over the stadiums generally have subtle differences. This includes minor colour variations, and more noticeably the presence (or lack) of white outlines around each ring.
Antwerp flag
During the opening ceremony of the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, the Olympic flag with the five rings signifying the universality of the Olympic Games was raised for the first time at an Olympic Games. At the end of the Games, the flag could not be found and a new Olympic flag had to be made for the handover ceremony to the officials of the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Despite it being a replacement, the IOC officially calls this the "Antwerp Flag" instead of the "Paris Flag". It was passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics. The 1924 flag continued to be used at the Summer Olympics until the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul when it was retired and replaced by the Seoul flag.
In 1997, at a banquet hosted by the U.S. Olympic Committee, a reporter was interviewing Hal Haig Prieste who had won a bronze medal in platform diving as a member of the 1920 U.S. 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. The original flag raised at the Antwerp opening ceremony was placed on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a plaque thanking Prieste for donating it. The flag returned to Antwerp in 2004 and since 2013, the year that Antwerp bore the title of European Sports Capital, the flag was displayed in the entrance hall of Antwerp's city hall. In 2017, however, the flag was stored in the collection of the MAS due to the renovation of the town hall.
While the flag is recognized by the IOC, critics and historians note that the returned flag is not the one that was used in the 1920 opening ceremony, as the original flag was much larger than the one returned by Prieste.
Oslo flag
The Oslo flag was presented to the IOC by the mayor of Oslo, Norway, during the 1952 Winter Olympics. Between 1952 and 2014, the flag was passed to the next organising city for the Winter Olympics, with its last appearance in Sochi at the 2014 Winter Olympics. For the 2010 Winter Olympics, the actual Oslo flag was kept in a special box that has brass plaques from all host cities attached to the inside of the beautifully decorated lid and available for public viewing at the Vancouver City Hall. It was replaced by the Pyeongchang flag.
Seoul flag
As a successor to the Antwerp Flag, the Seoul flag was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, South Korea. It was passed on to the next organising cities of the Summer Olympics between 1988 and 2012. Its last appearance was in London at the 2012 Summer Olympics. It was replaced by the Rio de Janeiro flag.
Rio de Janeiro flag
As a successor to the Seoul Flag, the Rio de Janeiro flag was presented to the IOC at the 2016 Summer Olympics by the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has since been passed to the next organising cities of the Summer Olympics.
Pyeongchang flag
As a successor to the Oslo Flag, the Pyeongchang flag was presented to the IOC at the 2018 Winter Olympics by the city of Pyeongchang, South Korea. It has since been passed to the next organizing city of the Winter Olympics.
Singapore flag
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. During the closing ceremony on 26 August 2010, Singapore officials presented it to the next organising committee, Nanjing 2014.