Why are the Olympic rings the colors that they are?

The colors of the five interlocked rings of the Olympic flag, and the flag's white background, were selected because they incorporated the colors of all the national flags that existed when the flag was created. The flag's colors are blue, dark yellow, black, green and red.

The Olympic flag was first shown in 1914 at the 20th anniversary meeting of the International Olympic Committee. It was created by Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, who championed the modern Olympic movement. Coubertin supposedly discovered the design of the interlocked rings on an ancient Greek altar. According to Coubertin, the five rings represented the five areas of the world where the Olympic movement was then active.