The Olympic flag is one of the symbols of the modern Olympic Games, along with the torch and medals. It symbolizes the union and peace of nations in sports competitions.
The flag is composed of five rings or colored rings intertwined on a white background, a symbol of peace. The rings are arranged three below and two above. It has ratios of 2: 3. Each ring represents one of the five continents:
- Blue for Oceania,
- Black for Africa,
- Red for America,
- Yellow for Asia and
- Green for Europe
In this way, the Olympic flag would represent the continents of the world and their union and peace in the sports competition.
Another theory about the origin of the flag suggests that what was sought was to gather on a flag the most predominant colors of the flags of all countries, so that each nation was identified in at least one color of the flag.
The creation of the Olympic flag dates from 1913, when the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, one of the founders of the modern Olympic Games, announced that it would be the symbol used for the Olympic Congress that would take place in Paris in August 1914.
It was hoisted for the first time in an Olympics in the Belgian city of Antwerp, where the 1920 Olympics were held.
The Olympic flag by tradition is hoisted at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and remains so until its closure.
