Know the facts – What the five Olympic rings represent?

These five rings represent the five parts of the world — Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Europe — that were then, in Coubertin’s words, “won over to Olympism and ready to accept its fertile rivalries.”

Each of the Olympic rings is equal in dimension. In formation, they’re interlaced with one another, with three rings on top and two on the bottom. The connection of the rings was designed to embody a unified world. Not only do they represent the union of continents but the meeting of athletes from around the world at the Olympic Games.

Today, there are seven official versions of the Olympic rings.

The full-colour version on its white background is the preferred version of the Olympic rings. Indeed, the full-colour Olympic rings are the embodiment of Pierre de Coubertin’s original vision; “full-colour” refers to the six Olympic colours – blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background – which symbolise Olympism’s universality.

The monochrome Olympic rings provide an alternative to the full-colour Olympic rings. The Olympic rings may appear in any of the six official Olympic colours when necessary.

Link to Olympic properties

The Olympic rings are a cornerstone of the Olympic properties, which comprise a variety of assets: the Olympic symbol, flag, motto, anthem, identifications (including but not limited to “Olympic Games” and “Games of the Olympiad”), designations, emblems, flame and torches (…) may, for convenience, be collectively or individually referred to as “Olympic properties”.

Use and rights

All rights to the Olympic properties, as well as all rights to the use thereof, belong exclusively to the IOC, including but not limited to the use for any profit-making, commercial or advertising purposes.

The Olympic symbol and the Olympic properties must be used only with the express prior written consent of the IOC.

Inputs from Olympic website, Wikipedia, other online sources