The Olympic symbols are the icons, flags and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee to promote the Olympic Games. Some — such as the flame, fanfare, and theme — are more prevalent during Olympic competition, but others, such as the flag, can be seen throughout the year.

Motto

The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger". The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. De Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who, amongst other things, was an athletics enthusiast. The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris^[1]

The motto was also the name of an Olympic history journal from 1992 to 1997, when it was renamed the Journal of Olympic History.

A more informal but well known motto, also introduced by De Coubertin, is "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!". De Coubertin got this motto from a sermon by the Bishop of Pennsylvania, during the 1908 London Games.

Olympic emblem

The five Olympic rings represent the five continents and were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920.

The emblem of the Olympic Games is composed of 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. 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, an association founded by the union of a two French sports associations and until 1925, responsible for representing the International Olympic Committee in France: The emblem of the union was two interlaced rings (like the vesica piscis 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]

According to De Coubertin the ring colours stand for those colours that appear on all the national flags of the world at that time.

The 1914 Congress had to be suspended due to the outbreak of World War I, but the emblem (and flag) 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 1950s 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] 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 emblem "reinforces the idea" that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world to join.^[4] 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, Europe and Asia are viewed as a single continent called Eurasia, and Antarctica is omitted.

Flag

The Olympic flag has the emblem: Created by Pierre De Coubertin in 1914. "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 inhabited continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time." (1931) Textes choisis II, p.470.

Use of the Olympic flag

An Olympic flag is raised during the opening ceremonies of each Olympic Games, and lowered during the closing ceremonies. A second flag is used for the Olympic Oath. Special flags are kept in the city halls of cities organizing the Olympic Games. At the closing ceremonies of each Olympic Games, the mayor of the city that organized the Games returns the flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the next city to host the Olympic Games. (This ceremony is known as the "Antwerp Ceremony" because it started there). There are three such flags, differing from all other copies in that they have a Five-colored fringe around the flag, and are tied with five colored ribbons to a flagstaff.

Specific flags

Antwerp flag

Was presented to the IOC at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, Belgium, and at the Closing Ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, was passed on to the next organizing city of the Summer Olympics until the Games of Seoul 1988 when it was retired. The Antwerp Flag is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Seoul flag

Was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, South Korea, and is passed on to the next organizing city of the Summer Olympics.

Music

The Olympic Hymn played when the Olympic Flag is raised, also known informally as the Olympic Anthem, is a musical piece composed by Spyros Samaras with words written from a poem of the Greek poet and writer Kostis Palamas. Both the poet and the composer were the choice of Demetrius Vikelas, a great Greek Pro-European and the first President of the IOC. The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the first edition at the 1896 Athens Olympic Gamesbut wasn't declared the official hymn by the IOC until 1957.. In the following years every hosting nation commissioned to various musicians the composition of a specific Olympic hymn for their own edition of the games. This happened up to the edition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Leo Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream" is often considered the most famous Olympic theme. Written in 1958 for Arnaud's Charge Suite, it is this piece, more than any of the fanfares or Olympic themes written by Williams, that Americans recognize as the Olympic theme, primarily because it was used by ABC beginning with the 1968 Olympics, and by NBC starting in 1992. According to United States Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Moran, many athletes include this piece in the music they listen to while preparing for competition. Arnaud's piece is stately, beginning with a timpani cadence that is soon joined by a distinctive theme in brass.

John Williams composed the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" for the 1984 Olympic Games, which were held in Los Angeles. It was released in its entirety to the public on the albums "The Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984" and "The Official Music of the 1984 Games". The premiere recording, as performed by an orchestra composed of Los Angeles-area musicians under the baton of the composer has not yet been publicly made available on any form of digital media. The piece eventually made its way onto CD (as a re-recording) with the release on Philips entitled "By Request: The Best of John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra," and has a slightly different arrangement than the original recording.

In 1996, an alternate version of "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" was released on the album Summon the Heroes for the Atlanta Olympic Games. In this arrangement, the first part of the piece was replaced with Williams's 1984 "Fanfare and Theme" Although perhaps not as familiar as Arnaud's theme, it is hardly unknown, since it also is still used in network coverage of the Olympics.

"Olympic Fanfare and Theme" (not including the familiar part by Arnaud) was awarded a Grammy in 1985.

Another piece by Williams, "The Olympic Spirit", was written for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and the corresponding NBC broadcast. The piece utilizes the brass, wind, and percussion sections heavily.

Kotinos

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The kotinos is an olive branch intertwined to form a circle. To be crowned with this wreath was the award that the athletes of the ancient Olympic Games competed for. However, this was not their only reward; usually the athlete was rewarded with a generous sum of money by his hometown.

At Athens 2004 the kotinos tradition was renewed, although in this case it was bestowed together with the gold medal. Apart from its use in the awards-ceremonies, the kotinos was chosen as the 2004 Summer Olympics emblem.

Olympic salute

The Olympic salute is a variant of the Roman salute: the right arm and hand are stretched and pointing upward, the palm is outward/downward. It looks like the Hitler salute, albeit with the arm aiming higher.

The greeting is visible on the official posters of the games at Paris 1924^[5] and Berlin 1936.^[6] Also famous is the French and Canadian teams entering the Olympic stadium in Berlin, 1936 with their arms raised. In the Leni Riefenstahl picture Olympia this scene was captured, and afterwards led to repeated misinterpretations suggesting that the French delegation was greeting Hitler.

Since the Second World War the greeting has been banned because of the Nazi-reference, although no official statement on this is known.

Mascots

Misha from 1980

Since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France the Olympic Games have had a mascot, usually an animal native to the area or occasionally human figures representing the cultural heritage. The first major mascot in the Olympic Games was Misha in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Misha was used extensively during the opening and closing ceremonies, had a TV animated cartoon and appeared on several merchandise products. Nowadays, most of the merchandise aimed at young people focuses on the mascots, rather than the Olympic flag or organization logos.

List of mascots

The material below is left over from the edit that created the table. It needs to be put in the appropriate places (eg footnotes, See Alsos) or just deleted as appropriate.

Main article: 2010 Winter Olympics mascots

This should be in a footnote or something (if kept at all) : "The Calgary Zoo sponsored a contest to name the bears. Among the nearly 7,000 entries submitted, the names "Hidy" and "Howdy" were eventually chosen."

1996 Summer Olympics whose name was changed from Whatizit (i.e. What is it ?). Izzy proved to be a very unpopular mascot.^{citation needed} Busch Gardens, a theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S., named a new Wild Mouse roller coaster after the mascot, but the name was changed within the year.

2000 Summer Olympics

• • , an unofficial mascot which upstaged the official mascots. Fatso was a wombat, . During the Olympics Fatso gained de facto recognition and he appears in the official memorial at Olympic park while Olly, Syd and Millie do not. Designed by Paul Newell, Greig Pickhaver and John Doyle.

Criticism

The Olympic Movement is very protective of its symbols; among other things, it claims an exclusive copyright on any arrangement of five rings, irrespective of alignment, color or lack thereof, as well as to any use of the word Olympic. They have taken action against numerous groups seen to have violated this trademark, including the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based band The Hopefuls (formerly The Olympic Hopefuls), Awana Clubs International, a Christian youth ministry who used the term for its competitive games, and Wizards of the Coast, publisher at the time of the IOC's complaint of the card game Legend of the Five Rings and others. But a few companies have been successful in using the Olympic name, such as Olympic Paint, which even has a paintbrush in the form of a torch as its logo.

See also

Modern Olympics movement

• The Olympic Anthem: played during the opening and closing ceremonies of Olympic Games and on certain other occasions
• The Olympic Flame: a flame burning day and night for the duration of the Olympic Games.
• The Olympic motto, in Latin: "Citius, Altius, Fortius"; which means, "Faster, Higher, Stronger".
• The Olympic Order: an award conferred by the International Olympic Committee
• The Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
• The Olympic emblem: the emblem of every edition of the Olympic Games, usually combining the Olympic Rings with some elements representing the host city or country and its culture.
• The three Olympic pillars: sport, environment, culture.

Other

• Symbols of paralympics

References

External links

• 2008 China Olympic Symbols
• PBS The Real Olympics, 2004. [4]
• Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol
• Images of all Olympic mascots
• Olympic Files - Mascots (in Russian)
• Bear Cub Misha Lover's Association, 1980 Summer Olympics mascot Misha's fan page (in Japanese)