Last modified: 2023-06-10 by 
zachary harden
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![[The Olympic flag]](../images/o/oly@ioc.gif)
image
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán
Flag adopted: 1914.
See also:
The IOC guards the dignity of the Olympic symbol and therefore limits the hoisting of Olympic flags to specific situations.
After the games, most of the Olympic Flags are taken down again, but there are a few places where the Olympic flag can be found throughout the year:
International Olympic Committee Website, July 2000; Pascal Vagnat, 11 December 1998
I doubt it. For starters, Vatican City State not big enough (population-wise or
athletic training facilities (a must for aspirant Olympic nations) wise.
David Kendall,
February 9, 2002
I believe from each country involved, they are to provide a sample of the
national flag in official specifications.
David Kendall,
February 9, 2002
"In preparation for the Games, Rio 2016 embarked
on a detailed flag approval process along with
NOC/NPC Relations and Services and IF Services
departments. Each National Olympic Committee
(NOC) and International Federation (IF) was sent a
digital image and had the opportunity to review a
fabric sample of its flag for approval.
These digital samples showed the flag orientation in
both horizontal and vertical format and the precise
colours to be used." (FLAGS AND ANTHEMS MANUAL - Rio 2016, Pg 32).
Zachary Harden, 10 November 2021
"In preparation for the Games, Rio 2016 embarked
on a detailed flag approval process along with
NOC/NPC Relations and Services and IF Services
departments. Each National Olympic Committee
(NOC) and International Federation (IF) was sent a
digital image and had the opportunity to review a
fabric sample of its flag for approval.
These digital samples showed the flag orientation in
both horizontal and vertical format and the precise
colours to be used." (FLAGS AND ANTHEMS MANUAL - Rio 2016, Pg 32).
Zachary Harden, 10 November 2021
Yes, I can think of a famous one - Bosnia.
I believe that the very first place that the current Bosnian flag was unveiled was
Nagano, having officially adopted it that day or the day before, and
leaving the organizers wondering what the flag would look like. I
remember that the sign-bearers (i.e., the volunteers that carry the name of the
nation preceding the flag bearer) in Nagano were dressed in the national colours
of each country's flag, except the Bosnian one (dressed in the colours of the
old flag), since they weren't informed in time.
David Kendall,
February 9, 2002
Olympic yachts are dinghies that don't fly any ensign, really. They only have
flags painted on the sails, and that's not considered to replace the ensign.
It's more like just a sign, like the country initials. If it weren't the
Olympics, they'd have publicity instead. In other competitions (Americas Cup,
Volvo Ocean Race, etc.), boats fly the respective civil or yacht ensign.
Jose C. Alegria, 12 August 2008
The main flag is presumed to go into storage until the next Olympic Games.
The flag that was passed to the representative of the next organisers of the
games goes to the city that will organise the next games. At the start of those
games it is often passed to a representative of that same city again. Before
WWII all symbols remained with the organiser of the past games, but this was
changed after the war. All other flags are either used as gifts or are sold as
souvenirs/to recoup losses.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 18
November 2010
- with reference, for example, to India, Malta, Philippines in the 1936 Games
at Berlin.
For India, probably a Red Ensign with the Star of India in the
fly. This flag was used at the opening of Luton Airport in 1938. In a newsreel
of the opening ceremony an oblique shot shows a row of flag poles starting with
the Civil Air Ensign, Canadian Red Ensign, Star of India on a Red Ensign, Union
Jack, South African orange, white and blue flag, Newfoundland Red Ensign and the
rest indistinguishable.
David Prothero, 24 September 2009
At
http://www.ansichtskarten-center.de India is represented by the UJ with the
Star of India in the centre (see also Bermuda).
Jan Mertens, 24
September 2009
There have been many instances during the opening ceremonies where
national flags have been dipped during the parade of nations to honor the head
of state of the host country. It is not universally done, and I can't recall any
country doing it at Beijing, nor at Vancouver. However, as a kid, watching the
1976 Montreal games on the BBC I remember most of of the Commonwealth countries
dipping their flags to the Queen (or her representative: I can't remember if she
was personally there or not). The US flag is not dipped to even the athletes'
own head of state, the president.
Terence Martin, 12 July 2010
The practice of not dipping the US flag arose from the refusal of American
Olympians to dip the flag in particular circumstances and for specific political
reasons, and only later was it made a general practice and added to the US flag
code. In 1908 an Irish-American flag-bearer refused to salute the British
monarch, and in 1936 the team decided to refuse to salute Hitler. "This flag
dips to no man" policy arose post facto to justify those refusals, but
was not really a pre-existing policy at all.
An extended quote form
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/news/mc080608.htm provides additional info,
including instances of other nations refusing to dip:
The tradition of unbowed flags dates not to 1908 but to 1936. While the U.S. team at London in 1908 by most accounts did not dip its banner to Great Britain's king at the first opening parade in Olympic history, American flag- bearers did dip the Stars and Stripes in 1912 at Stockholm, in 1924 at Paris, and in 1932 at Lake Placid and Los Angeles.Mark Dyreson is an associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State's University Park campus and author of the new book, ''Crafting Patriotism for Global Domination: America at the Olympics'' (Routledge Press).
The refusal, then and now, is not free from politics but has often been intended and interpreted as a signal of disrespect. It has always been an assertion of nationalism - though not always purely American nationalism. Indeed, history reveals the original patriots who refused to dip to the British monarch were animated as much by Irish as American sentiment. Many of the U.S. athletes, including the flag-bearer, were Irish immigrants or descendants and were incensed that their former countrymen were forced to compete under the Union Jack rather than an Irish flag. They intended to insult the British - and the furor that ensued indicates they succeeded.
Between 1908 and 1932 when the U.S. sometimes dipped and sometimes refused, American nationalism came to the fore in 1928 when Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in his brief stint as U.S. Olympic team commander, enforced military protocol to prevent a dip. In 1932, U.S. teams dipped at home to honor their own leaders. Since 1936, when in a clearly political move designed to register discomfort with the host nation, the U.S. team refused to lower the Stars and Stripes to Adolf Hitler in spite of direct requests by the Nazis to do so, no American team has ever dipped the flag. Though American television viewers probably consider the tradition non-controversial and a federal flag code enacted in 1942 dissuades citizens from dipping, the practice of refusing to lower the Stars and Stripes has historically produced heated debates in both domestic and foreign venues. In 1908, the refusal to dip the flag elicited as much condemnation as praise from the American media. Ever since, the custom has been controversial.
The U.S. is not alone in refusing to dip. When the Soviet Union joined the Olympic movement in 1952, its team refused to dip the crimson hammer-and-sickle. Other Soviet satellites followed suit, creating an amusing irony at Squaw Valley in the winter of 1960 when the American press condemned the Warsaw Pact for failing to dip to Vice President Nixon while praising the U.S. team for the very same gesture. By the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, even as the dissolution of the Soviet Union eroded the Cold War, 60 of the 64 flag-bearers adopted the American habit and refused to dip.
1906: The very first time all athletes were entered by the National Olympic
Committees, and therefore the first time the Olympics truly had national teams,
was for the First Intercalated Games, Athens 1906. For the first time, the
Opening of the Games was an event in its own right, and during this event these
teams marched through the Panathinaiko Stadium behind their flags. King George I
of Greece was personally present, and the United States participated.
The
New York Times reported:
"King George arose and briefly declared the
games opened. All the participants, Greek and foreign, then moved in procession
around the stadium, headed by bands of music. As the 900 picked athletes of the
world filed past the royal family dais they presented an imposing display, and
were cheered to the echo. Passing the royal presence, the standard bearer of
each team impressively lowered the flag of his country, King George gravely
returning the salute."
I expect with such a description we can assume this
paper would have mentioned it had the USA formed an exception.
1908: London 1908 too had an Opening Ceremony. After all teams had marched to
their places in the stadium, they all lowered their flags to King Edward VII.
However, as the teams marched out of the stadium and past the monarch, the
Irish-American flag bearer and shot putter Ralph Rose did not lower the flag of
the United States. The reason for this is unknown. Rose may simply have been too
nervous to notice the right moment, may have forgotten protocol require him to
lower the flag twice, may have misinterpreted the protocol's description that
his team's column was supposed to "salute" the king on their way out, or he may
simply not have known, as he himself claimed afterwards. But it's also possible
that he and some of his team mates had decided on this for any number of the
following reasons:
- At the opening, the decoration of the stadium had
included the flags of China and Japan, which did not partake in the games, but
not those of Sweden and The United States, who did.
- As several members of
the team were Irish-Americans, they might have sympathised with the Anglo-Irish
who would have preferred to partake under an Irish flag, rather than under that
of the United Kingdom.
- The team may have disliked that, as the flags were
lowered together, everyone was supposed to cheer for the British king.
- It
may be that lowering the flag for an earthly king was considered an insult to
the Stars and Stripes, an explanation attributed to another team member, discus
thrower Martin Sheridan. This attribution apparently first appeared in print in
1952, though: his own pieces at the time don't mention anything of the kind.
After this had gotten some attention in the American media, it was
apparently considered proper, as it happened in several Olympic Games, though
not all of them. In 1942, the not lowering of the flag was coded into law.
http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv7n3/JOHv7n3i.pdf
The US is not the only one not to lower the flag at the games since then.
They're not the only one with a law forbidding that either: Sammy Kanadi posted
one time that Indonesian flag law also forbids dipping the flag. Mark Sensen
once posted a question, though, whether such flag laws would actually be valid
at the Olympic Games, as these to most countries will be abroad.
But
since Sydney we've noticed that nobody seems to lower the flag any more.
Lowering flags is also not specified by protocol. Like in 1908, the protocol
currently seems to speak of "saluting", without mentioning whether this involves
a flag. Instead, most the flag bearers now swirl the flag to accept the
enthusiasm of the crowd as the team enters the stadium.
Peter Hans van den
Muijzenberg, 13 July 2010
Athens 1906.
Peter Hans van den
Muijzenberg, 13 July 2010
Athens 1906 (for the flags; I don't know about anthems).
Peter Hans van den
Muijzenberg, 13 July 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/who-made-the-olympic-rings.html?hpw
Dave Martucci, 12 July 2012
Interesting also to notice is the "SHE SEES LOGOS" project (The Olympic Rings
remade every day as we count down to London 2012):
"Sarah Hyndman, a graphic designer in London, started her Olympic-logo-a-day
project in July 2011. You can see her interpretations of the Olympic symbol at
http://olympiclogoaday.com/ ", on the
same link that Dave provides.
Esteban Rivera, 12 July 2012
