The Olympic Rings

This is the closing weekend of the XXX Olympiad in London and yes, I have loved every minute of the coverage.  Who knew I would stay up so late or get up at 3am to watch the women's marathon last Saturday, but I did.  Sports I barely knew existed became obsessions for me.  At the same time throughout the coverage the Olympic Rings have made amazing appearences throughout London.  Sprinkled throughout this posting are some of my favorites.  The first is from the opening ceremonies.

The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. This was originally designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. According to de Coubertin, the ring colours with the white background stand for those colors that appeared on all the national flags that competed in the Olympic games at that time. Upon its initial introduction, de Coubertin stated the following in the August, 1912 edition of Olympique:

"...the six colours [including the flag’s white background] thus combined reproduce the colours of all the nations, with no exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the tri- colours of France, England and America, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, the yellow and red of Spain next to the novelties of Brazil or Australia, with old Japan and new China. Here is truly an international symbol."

In his article published in the "Olympic Revue" the official magazine of the International Olympic Committee in November 1992, the American historian Robert Barney explains that the idea of the interlaced rings came to Pierre de Coubertin when he was in charge of the USFSA, an association founded by the union of two French sports associations and until 1925, responsible for representing the International Olympic Committee in France: The emblem of the union was two interlaced rings (like the vesica piscis typical interlaced marriage rings) and originally the idea of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung: for him, the ring symbolized continuity and the human being.

The 1914 Congress had to be suspended because of the outbreak of World War I, but the symbol and flag were later adopted. They would first officially debut at the Games of the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920.

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 of the 1936 Summer Olympics, wanted to hold a torchbearers' ceremony in the stadium at Delphi, site of the famous oracle, where the Pythian Games were also held. For this reason he ordered 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, two British 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 rings would subsequently be featured prominently in Nazi images in 1936 as part of an effort to glorify the Third Reich.

The current view of the International Olympic Committee (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 regions 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. Prior to 1951, the official handbook stated that each colour corresponded to a particular continent: blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Australia and Oceania and red for America (North and South considered as a single continent); this was removed because there was no evidence that Coubertin had intended it (the quote above was probably an afterthought).  Thank you to Wikipedia for this information.

For reference of the photos above, the rings at The Tower Bridge, which are unique in that they swing up when the bridge opens for river traffic.  The next image is of the floating rings that appeared up and down the Thames River.  The next image is at the north London St. Pancras Eurostar Train Station with the final image on the highest knoll at the Olympic Park in east London.  Each day of the games this has become a gathering place of many who line up for a picture and it is all very orderly.  How very British!

And in closing, stories run crazy about what goes on in the Olympic Village.  Once the athletes are done with their events, what is left to do?  Well, since there is a standing order for 120,000 condoms and has been since the 2000 games in Sydney to last for the duration I present a closing moment of humor.  I know where I will be for the rest of the weekend, in front of the TV watching the final rounds of sports plus the closing ceremonies.  Have a great weekend.