what do the rings used in the Olympics games stand for?

Answer 1

Baron de Coubertin revealed the Olympic symbol in 1913. In his words:
“these five circles stand for the five regions on Earth that reconcile with Olympism… it
is an authentic Olympic symbol”. These Olympic circles represent the five continents
and the meeting of the athletes from all around the world. The colors of the Olympic
circles have been chosen to represent at least one of the colors of the flags of each
country. The five colors are: bleu, yellow, black, green and red and are set upon a white
background.

Answer 2

The 5 rings stands for the 5 continents in the world. When the rings appear on the Olympic flag which has a white background, the 5 colours of the rings; blue, black, red, yellow, and green plus the white colour from the background represents all the countries in the world.

Answer 3

"The Olympic flag [...] has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre : blue, yellow, black, green and red [...] This design is symbolic ; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time." (1931) Textes choisis II, p.470.
The flag features the emblem of the Olympic Games — five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red respectively) on a white field. This was originally designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, but gained widespread popularity due to its promotion by Nazi Germany [1]. Upon its initial introduction, de Coubertin stated the following in the August, 1913 edition of Revue Olympique:
The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914 ...: five intertwined rings in different colours - blue, yellow, black, green, red - are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition.
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 (Union des Sociétés Française de Sports Athlétiques): The emblem of the union was two interlaced rings (like the typical interlaced marriage rings) and originally the idea of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung because for him the ring meant continuity and the human being. [2]
"The Olympic flag [...] has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre : blue, yellow, black, green and red [...] This design is symbolic ; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time." (1931) Textes choisis II, p.470.

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

The emblem'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 1950's 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". [3] [4]. 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 is that the flag "reinforces the idea" that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world to join. [5] As can be read in the Olympic Charter, the Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. However, no continent is represented by any specific ring. Though colourful explanations about the symbolism of the coloured rings exist, the only connection between the rings and the continents is that the number five refers to the number of continents. In this scheme, the Americas are viewed as a single continent, and Antarctica is omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_rings

Answer 4

The first answerer is right. There is a general opinion that they represent the 5 continents, but in fact in a letter addressed to the Belgian Baron Henri de Baillet-Latour, future IOC president, Pierre de Coubertin said"It has nothing to do with the continents. I actually hoped any given country would find at least one of its national colours among those 5 and thus feel obliged towards the Olympic ideal as it would towards its own honour and values".
The letter is now kept in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Answer 5

The interlocking rings represent unity and all the flags of the world have at least one of the colors in them.

Answer 6

Each of the colored rings stands for a color in at least one nation's flag.

Answer 7

Of the colours that are in the five rings, every country's flag has at least one of those colours.

Answer 8

each ring stands for a different continent...Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America, each continent will compete in the olympics and this will represent them all.

Answer 9

the colors found in every country's flag of the world