Olympic flag made in the 'Bon Marché' store in Paris according to Pierre de Coubertin's instructions. The Olympic Museum collections This is one of the earliest Olympic flags to be made! Pierre de Coubertin entrusted Angelo Bolanaki with this flag. It was first flown on 5th April 1914 in Alexandria for a sport event organized for celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Olympic Games renovation. The five interlocked rings of the Olympic symbol at its centre had previously been designed by Pierre de Coubertin to represent the 5 continents, and the gathering of athletes from all over the world. The colours of the five rings plus the background of the Olympic flag were chosen because they could be found in the different national flags at the time and not because they were meant to correspond to specific continents. First flag made by the department store Le Bon Marché in Paris in 1913, from a design by Pierre de Coubertin This Olympic flag was presented to the Paris Congress in 1914. Aspiring to encourage greater unity in the world, Pierre de Coubertin’s five-ring design represents the five continents, with their destiny linked by Olympism. This expression of the universality of the Games is one of the most well-known emblems in the world. “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 continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.” Pierre de Coubertin, “Mémoires Olympiques”, 1931