The Official Olympic Flag Created by Pierre de Coubertin

in 1914, the Olympic flag contains five interconne

cted rings on a white backgroun d. The five interlockin g rings represent

the union of the five continents and the meeting of the athletes of

the world at the Olympic Game. The rings, from left to right, are

blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The colors were

chosen because at least one of them appeared on the flag of every

country in the world. The Olympic flag was first flown during the

1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium. It is paraded during the

opening ceremony of each Game. At the end of the Games,

the Olympic Flag is presented to the next host city by the

Games host city. Traditionall y, eight people carry in the flag.

Five of these flagbearer s represent the continents,

while the other three stand for the Olympic ideals of

sport, environme nt, and culture. At the 2002 Salt Lake

Games, astronaut John Glenn of the United States, Noble Prize

winner Desmond Tutu of South Africa, aboriginal Olympic

champion Cathy Freeman of Australia, political leader

Lech Walesa of Poland, and Olympic ski jumper Kazuyoshi

Funaki of Japan each represente d their continent while carrying

the flag. For the ideals, Olympic alpine skier JeanClaude

Killy of France stood as a symbol for sport, explorer Jean-

Michel Cousteau of France for the environme nt, and film

director Steven Spielberg of the United States for culture.