History                                                                          Featured Athletes Preview

     According to most accounts, Baron Pierre de Coubertin                                        [ Catriona Le May Doan ]
     (founder of the modern Olympic Movement) adopted the                                      Ladies 500 m Speedskating
     rings in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artifact                                          Gold Medal Olympian
     from ancient Greece. The five rings respresent the five
     major regions fo the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia,
     Europe, and Oceania: Blue = Europe, Yellow = Asia,                                                 [ Beckie Scott ]
     Black = Africa, Green = Australia and Red = the Americas.                                 Ladies' 5 km Free Pursuit
                                                                                                                                                                    Bronze Medal Olympian
     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                                           [ Veronica Brenner ]
     Pierre de Coubertin never said nor wrote that the colors of                                           Ladies' Aerials
     the rings were linked with different continents.                                                       Silver Medal Olympian

     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 hall 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 in 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.