^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Olympics - Proposals of Olympic flags

First proposals

See:

Other sites:

International Olympic Committee Website

First proposals

image by Ivan Sanche, June 16, 2003

In 1956, an Australian sent to the International Olympic Committee a letter suggesting the athletes from the different nations should mix together during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. The suggestion was accepted. Based on this precedent, people have sent to President of the IOC Jacques Rogge ten proposals of improvements of the Olympic Games.

Proposal #1

Deals with the flag. The traditional flag of the IOC should be amended by adding an orange ring around the five rings symbolizing the five continents. This "sixth ring" would symbolize the Earth, on which live all the athletes. Orange would symbolize "a new planetary dawn standing for the unity of all nations".

Proposal #2

Deals with the opening ceremony. For each participating nation, the national flag would be borne by a man and the new Olympic flag by a woman.

Proposal #3

Deals with the jersey. A jersey with the new Olympic emblem would be worn by the volunteers and those athlets who would enjoy it. This would be a means to decrease chauvinism.

Proposal #4

Deals with the medal ceremony. The Olympic anthem would be played instead of the winner's national anthem in order to honour all the competitors. [Nothing is said on flmag hosting. Moreover, ceremonies with always the same anthem played would be very boring].

Other proposals

The other proposals are not flag related. They deal with mixing of the sexes and new kinds of competition, including mixed and backwards (marathon!) races. The authors of the proposals seems to be great advocated of mixing of the sexes and backwards sport.

I don't know how serious these proposals are and if they were really sent to Jacques Rogge.

Posted by Ivan Sache, June 16, 2004.
From: http://www.backward-running-backward.com/olympicfrench.htm (In French, but also available in other languages).

I can't say about the following ten suggestions, but the one above concerning the closing ceremony is true. The letter was written by a teenage boy of Chinese heritage living in Melbourne. His idea was to diffuse tensions among nations during the Cold War, by having all nations marching as one team. This guy, now in his sixties and currently lives in Romania, but is still far from forgotten...
Miles Li, June 16, 2004

See also:

Games of the VII Olympiad: Antwerp 1920