The five Olympic rings use five official colors: blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
The rings were designed by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic movement, and first appeared in 1913. The interlaced rings represent the union of the five parts of the world involved in the Olympic movement. The Olympic flag places the rings on a white background.
A common misunderstanding is that each ring color officially represents a particular continent. The Olympic Charter does not assign one continent to each individual ring. Instead, the colors were chosen because at least one of them, together with the white background, appeared in the national flag of every country when the design was introduced. The rings first appeared at an Olympic Games opening ceremony at Antwerp in 1920. Their arrangement and symbolism have remained central to Olympic branding, although the emblem’s detailed design is protected by the International Olympic Committee.