1894, Pierre de Freddy and Baron Coubertin, a French aristocrat and intellectual, tried to bring more physical education into schools and held a conference in Paris to revive the ancient Olympic Games (Coubertin held the USFSA conference for the first time in 1889). The congress reached an agreement on the proposal of the modern Olympic Games, and the International Olympic Committee was formally established soon, and undertook the planning task of 1896 Athens Olympic Games.
19 12 after the Stockholm Olympic Games (the first Olympic Games in which athletes from all five residential areas in the world participated), a letter from Coubertin to his colleagues appeared at the top, with five interlocking patterns painted by hand. 19 14, Coubertin adopted his ring design as the emblem of the 20th anniversary celebration of the International Olympic Committee. A year later, it became the official symbol of the Olympic Games.
These rings were originally used as the flags and symbols of the 19 16 Olympic Games, but due to the continuation of the world war, these competitions were cancelled. These rings made their debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.
Coubertin expounded his design in 193 1:
"White background with five interlaced rings in the middle: blue, yellow, black, green and red ... symbolic; It represents the five inhabited continents in the world and is unified by the Olympic spirit. These six colors are the colors that appear on all national flags in the world at present. "
Coubertin's explanation of "continent" is very general, including Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. He never said or wrote any particular ring to represent a particular continent.
Because the five rings were originally designed as the symbol of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee, and later became the symbol of the Olympic Games. According to david young, a historian, Coubertin may initially regard the five rings as the symbol of the five successful Olympic Games.
An old ring?
Popular myths (and an academic article) believe that these rings are inspired by similar ancient designs found on a stone in Delphi, Greece. However, this "ancient" design is actually just a modern prop.
For the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games, Carl Diem, chairman of the organizing committee, hopes to pass the Olympic flame from the ignition point in Olympia to the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Wu Tingyan seems to have a talent for drama. In the relay race, he stopped at the ancient stadium in Delphi to attend an ancient Greek torchbearer ceremony, as well as an ancient 3-foot-high stone altar and a modern circular design engraved on its sides.
After the ceremony, the torchbearers moved on, but no one removed the stone from the stadium. Twenty years later, British researchers visiting Delphi noticed the design of the ring on the stone. Their conclusion is that this stone is an ancient altar, and the circular design has been used in ancient Greece, and now it has formed a "link between ancient and modern Olympic movements."
The true story behind the altar was later revealed. The "Stone of Karl Dimm" was moved out of the stadium and placed near the ticket entrance of the historical site.
Coubertin's design inspiration seems more modern. Four years before he held the Olympic Congress, he became the president of the French Sports Association (USFSA), the governing body of French sports. This league is formed by the merger of two smaller sports organizations. To symbolize this, two interlocking rings-a red one and a blue one-were created and displayed on the uniforms of American football players.
"It seems obvious," historian Robert Barney said in an article in 1992 Olympic Revue. The relationship between Coubertin and the US Food Standards Agency made him think of interlocking rings when he conceived this logo ... In fact, a circular logo symbolizes the success of his Olympic movement at that time ... After all, a circle means integrity and a ring.
The Lord of the Rings
The International Olympic Committee attaches great importance to their five rings and abides by very strict rules of use and graphic standards, including:
The area covered by the Olympic symbols (five rings) in the Olympic emblem (such as the emblem of the 2008 Olympic Games) shall not exceed one third of the total area of the emblem.
The Olympic logo contained in the Olympic logo must appear completely (it must not be skipped in the ring! ) and cannot be changed in any way.
These rings can be copied as solid-color versions (for single-color reproduction of blue, yellow, black, green, red, white, gray, gold, silver or bronze) or interlocking versions (staggered from left to right; And copy to any of the above colors or full color, in this case, the blue, black and red rings are at the top, and the yellow and green are at the bottom).
For the reproduction of dark background, the ring must be monochromatic yellow, white, gray, gold, silver or bronze; Full color is not allowed on dark background.