Symbolism of the Olympic Rings

The five interlocking rings represent the five continents of the world, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. The five-ringed symbol represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world. It has recently come to the Olympic committee’s attention that there are in fact seven continents. Antarctica has been banned from competing due to pressure from the anti whaling lobby and for generally being crap at games which leaves six continents.

The London games will therefore be sporting the new six ringed flag. Mayor Boris Johnson will shortly be announcing the results of an international competition to select the sixth colour with violet being the hot favourite. This has caused controversy.

Iran have threatened to boycott the games if violet is chosen as they believe it is veiled support for Paralynn “Violet” Ardalana, the famous Iranian feminist activist.

Uganda, Ghana and Kenya have also said they will not attend the games if violet is chosen. Violet paper has traditionally been used in Britain to package chocolate and this is seen as a reference to our shameful colonial slave trading past.

My personal choice for the new ring is red but as this is already a ring colour I don’t think I will win the competition.

Just to confuse things, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games adds an additional layer of symbolism to the flag. Traditionally, twenty eight people carry in the flag. Five of these flag bearers represent the continents, while the remainder represent the organs of the body. The number of flag bearers will remain the same with an organ being removed to make way for the extra continent. The committee have decided to omit the anus.