The Olympic flag has 5 rings because they were designed to represent the five major inhabited parts of the world that had joined the Olympic movement when the symbol was created, not the seven-continent model many people learn today.

Quick Scoop: Why 5 Olympic Rings?

  • The rings were created in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics.
  • They stand for the union of five “parts of the world”: Africa, the Americas (counted as one), Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
  • These were the regions considered “won over to Olympism” and actively taking part in the Games at the time.
  • Antarctica is not included because it has no permanent population and no national teams.

Do the rings equal continents?

Historically, yes in a broad sense, but with a twist:

  • The Olympic movement uses a five-continent model:
    • Africa
    • America (North + South together)
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Oceania
  • That’s why there are 5 rings instead of 7, which is the model more common in many English-speaking schools.

Here’s that idea in a compact view:

Olympic idea (rings)| Geographic model (school)| What’s different
---|---|---
5 parts of the world: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania1379| 7 continents: Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Oceania/Australia, Antarctica13| Americas merged into one, Antarctica left out because no teams.13

What about the ring colors?

  • The rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background.
  • A common myth: each color matches a specific continent. Some recent articles even repeat this mapping.
  • The original intent: together with the white field, these six colors appeared in every national flag at the time, so every country could “see itself” in the symbol.

So the number of rings is about five world regions joining the Games, while the colors are about including every nation’s flag, not painting each continent its own color.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.