According to most accounts, Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modeern Olympic Movement) adopted the rings in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artifact fron ancient Greece.  The five rings represent the five major regions of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania: Blue = Europe, Yellow = Asia, Black = Africa, Green = Australia and Red = the Americas.

Every national flag in the world includes at least one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black green, and red.  It is important to emphasize that Pierre de Coubertin never said nor wrote that the colors of the rings were linked with the different continents.

The Olympic Flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.  At the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor of that host-city presents the flag to the mayor of the next host-city.  It then rests at the town of the next host-city for four years until the Opening Ceremony of their Olympic Games.   The plain white background of the Olympic flag is symbolic of peace throughout the games.

Salt Lake City is the state of Utah in the USA is the host for the 2002 games.  Canadian athletes traditionally do quite well at Winter Olympics as we are a country with a colder winter.

I would like to give credit to these great sites: www.saltlake2002.com, www.cbc.ca, and ca.sports.yahoo.com

Click on the images below to find out more about three great athletes to watch at the games:

JEFF BEAN         JENNIFER HEIL         SARAH HUGHES


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