Ask Mike: The Olympic Rings
Hey Guys,
The Summer Olympics are about to get under way in London, and Yahoo! Sports will be there covering the festivities 24/7. Of course, the Olympic Rings will be front and center throughout. Folks may find themselves wondering if the five intertwined rings have any significance. Short answer — yep, they do.
According to Mental Floss, the rings were created by French educator Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, also known as the father of the Modern Olympic Games.
The interlocked rings symbolize, in Coubertin’s words in 1931, “the five inhabited continents of the world, united by Olympism.” For Coubertin’s purposes, the five continents were the Americas (both North and South), Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
According to The New York Times, some historians believe Baron Coubertin was inspired by an ad for Dunlop bicycle tires. “The baron had been perusing a magazine illustrated with five bicycle tires at around the same time that he invented his design, according to the historian Karl Lennantz.”
A popular myth is that the different colors of the rings represent a different continent. Not true. The colors (black, green, blue, red, yellow) were chosen because they were the most commonly occurring colors on national flags. Also not true — that the rings were originally used during the ancient Olympic Games in Greece. The symbol is relatively modern.
No doubt about it — the rings are one of the most recognized symbols on the planet. Just be careful about using the symbol without permission from the International Olympic Committee.
Got an event you’re most looking forward to watching at the Games? Sound off below.
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I am definitely looking forward to the women’s and men’s marathons.
I’m looking forward to the women’s gymnastics. I feel like I know our (US) team, and the moves that they and other countries can pull off are incredible.
It is great that the world can come together and have sports, something that is more meaningful.
One event I’ll be paying particular attention to is swimming. This will be Michael Phelps’s final Olympic Games, and after his explosive performance in the 2008 Beijing Games, he’ll be getting plenty of attention this time around. But will it be a repeat of 2008? Well…I’m not sure. Last year, there was a lot of pressure on Phelps to win all those gold medals and make Olympic history, and I think that really impacted his performances and gave him the drive to grab all the gold. This year, the pressure, though it’s still immense when compared to other sports, has lessened a little bit. I think Phelps will still do very well and do Team USA proud, but I don’t expect a repeat performance.
Another event I’m really looking forward to is gymnastics. Ever since I watched the 1996 Women’s team take home the gold in Atlanta, particularly Kerri Strug’s heart-wrenching performance, it’s been one of my favorite events in the games. No other event gets me more excited than watching somebody fly high into the air and pray that they land on point and don’t break anything on the way back down. China may have been the big focus of the last games, (no surprise that the most attention would be paid to the host country…) I think the USA girls and guys are primed to step back into the spotlight.
Of course, the popular sports like swimming, gymnastics and the like will get the most attention. But just as a prediction, I think there might be a little more attention paid to archery. It probably won’t be one the prime-time events. But given the popularity of movies like “Brave” and “The Hunger Games,” both featuring bow-and-arrow wielding heroines, I wouldn’t be surprised if this event gets a little more airtime.
Olympics games is my fav event than anything else… so I always look forward to seeing it =)
I am looking forward to the Archery.
Love the events
I would call the Games off too.
I see reason and power to do so, and, the Queen should be honored in having that ability.
Amen.
Everyone enjoy the Games.
I love the women’s gymnastics, basketball, swimming (men and women). As I look at these young people participate in their sports, I often wonder – how does one spring from their love of swimming and go into competitive swimming that leads to the Olympics? I have seen exceptional students in my day who are great runners, and have hoped that they would have interests in competition, but I have no idea how students move from school competitions to a more professional interest?
Originally, they were designed in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC and father of the modern Olympic movement, for a 1914 World Olympic Congress in Paris. They were supposed to symbolize the first five Olympics, but the congress disbanded when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering World War I.
Leni Riefenstahl, the Olympia filmmaker who also chronicled Hitler’s rise to power, had the rings carved into a stone altar at the ancient Greek city of Delphi, spawning the myth that they were a symbol dating more than two millennia.
With Hitler’s influence, the rings became part of the Nazi pageantry at Berlin – and they’ve come to symbolize the Olympics ever since.
Wow, i never knew… pretty cool.
Synchronize swimming! and Diving
In the olympics there are basket ball and meny more.
Well I always thought that the rings did represent the various continents!
Blue – Europe
Yellow – Americas
Black – Africa
Green – Asia
Red – Australasia
However, I guess that my belief stemmed from the popular board game Risk, where each of the continents are colour coded in this pattern!! I must have made it up many moons ago, so it’s good to be enlightened that they actually come from the most popular flag colours!
Swimming and cycling.
Looking forward to Gymnastics,Basketball, Synchronized-swimming
I’m pretty sure there was a link with the pentagram, actually, but I don’t have a specific source to support that.