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 topic presented, 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 “decoding” of 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 color from those six 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 come 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.