Philip Barker: Nazi U-Boats, James Bond, Tower Bridge - the 100-year history of the Olympic Rings

When the Olympic flag flies at the Winter Games in Sochi, it will be a 100 years since the most famous Olympic symbol of all was created.

The five interlocked rings were the brainchild of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who had led the efforts to revive the Olympic Games.

"These five rings represent the five parts of the world now won over to Olympism and ready to accept its fruitful rivalries," he said.

At least one colour could be found in every flag in the world.

"This truly is an international emblem. It was made to be turned into a flag and the look of the flag would be perfect, a delight to see fluttering in the wind," he wrote.

Coubertin used the design as a letterhead in 1913 but it was not until the following year that it was seen in public.

The flag flew for the first time in 1914 at Alexandria in Egypt.

Even so, Coubertin sensed the worsening international situation as the world hovered on the brink of war.

"Are these rings solidly riveted together? Will war someday shatter the Olympic framework?" he asked.

His comments were sadly prophetic, for war soon raged. The flag intended to symbolise international understanding was stowed away for four long years.

The ceremonial handover flag on display in London's City Hall before the 2012 Olympic Games ©Philip Barker

It finally appeared at an Olympic Opening Ceremony in 1920 at the first post-war Games in Antwerp and immediately became a target for the athletes. Some 80 years later in Sydney, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch - born in 1920 - heard how American diver Hal Haig Prieste had managed to "collect" a flag as a souvenir. In 2000, Prieste had decided to restore the stolen item to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was a charming episode in the build up to the Sydney Games.

The flag that Prieste returned should not be confused with the "Antwerp Flag". This was a ceremonial banner that the city fathers presented to their colleagues in Paris four years later to symbolically pass on the Olympic spirit. Their flag had the Olympic Rings and an embroidered border in the Olympic colours. This was distinct from the flags flown in the stadium to be kept in the municipal offices. Paris was charged with passing it to Amsterdam in 1928.

At this time, the exchange was at the Closing Ceremony, so in 1936 a group from Los Angeles brought the flag to Berlin. It was presented to Julius Lippert, the Nazi Mayor of Berlin. The Rings would not fly above a stadium for another 12 years as war came once again, though strangely, the conning towers of German submarines sometimes carried the Olympic Rings. This was apparently because a U-boat launched in the Olympic year of 1936 had been decorated by the Rings in tribute to the Olympians.

In the meantime, the Antwerp flag was stowed in a Berlin bank vault. How it was rediscovered in the final days of the Second World War remains the subject of dispute. It was reported that the Allied armies had come across it. Then 1936 Organising Chief Carl Diem also claimed that he had rediscovered the flag.

One thing was certain, there would be no Berlin delegation in London to pass the flag to London's Lord Mayor.

Until this time, the Winter Olympics did not have a similar ritual but after the 1952 Games in Oslo, the Norwegians introduced a companion flag.

At this time, the Olympic Movement was increasingly threatened by political interference. The IOC sought to diffuse the situation and the use of the Rings was central to its strategy.

At the heart of Europe, Germany was divided but by the late 1950s, the IOC had brokered an agreement for East and West Germany to compete together. Though this was only symbolic, they marched under the same flag. In 1959, it was agreed that this should be the black red and gold tricolour used by both nations, but with one important modification. In the words of IOC President Avery Brundage, the flag would be "neutralised" The Olympic Rings were to be set in white. Initially, neither side agreed. It took a visit by Karl Ritter von Halt and Willi Daume to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to persuade him. In East Berlin, the Communist officials were equally unwilling but eventually agreed.

The German flag with Olympic Rings used by the united team in the sixties ©Philip Barker

"The victory proves how the athletes of both zones of Germany have been brought together by the bonds created by Olympism," said the Olympic Review.

This flag was used until East and West Germany went their separate ways at the 1968 Games, but further problems lay ahead. In 1980, United States President Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the Moscow Games in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

At a meeting in Rome, 18 European National Olympic Committees agreed to use the Olympic Rings rather than their national flags.

"Their mission is to defend the Olympic Movement whose principles are fraternity and universal friendship," said a statement.

"At all times and on all occasions the flag of the participating nations will be the Olympic flag."

Olympic regulations were modified to allow them to do so.

Canada was among the nations that stayed away. It was incumbent on Montreal to bring the ceremonial Olympic flag to the Lenin stadium. This was carried in by Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson, the young runners who had lit the Olympic Cauldron in 1976. It would normally have been a task for the Mayor Jean Drapeau but the political climate made it impossible for him to do so. Even so, he made his support of the Olympic Movement very clear in a letter to Prime Minister Joe Clark.

In the wake of Moscow, the IOC decided to alter the flag ritual. At their session in Sarajevo in 1984, they agreed that the flag should be handed to the city about to stage the Games. No sooner was the change introduced than the Soviet Union announced their boycott of the 1984 Games and apparently refused to bring the Olympic flag to Los Angeles. Instead, it was carried into the stadium by IOC representatives, including the Belgian Alexandre de Mérode and two surviving members of the American team from Antwerp 1920. The city of Los Angeles held the flag for only a fortnight before it was given to representatives of 1988 organisers Seoul.

There was one further development in the Antwerp flag story. The Organising Committee for the 1988 Games had a replacement made for the Antwerp flag, complete with a casket. It is this flag that was received by the city fathers of Rio 2016.

By this time, an Olympic flag was used for another ritual. Up until 1980, the Olympic oaths were taken while grasping the relevant national flag. At the Sarajevo Winter Games in 1984 Slovenian skier Bojan Križaj, became the first oath taker to do so while holding the Olympic flag. At that time, Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia.

In Olympia the local municipality has laid paving stones with the five Rings ©Philip Barker

The Olympic Movement remained amateur in its concept through the first three quarters of a century of its existence but jealously guarded the name Olympic from the outset and were equally concerned to protect the Olympic Rings.

In 1949, the IOC asked National Olympic Committees to "react energetically in all cases where the Olympic words and Rings are utilised for events which in no way concern the Olympic Movement".

In 1953 the Italian Olympic Committee President Giulio Onesti wrote to domestic sports organisations "to use the Olympic symbols with the utmost care and discretion in order to emphasise the full import thus never permitting them to become commonplace". They were certainly not to be used for any professional sports events.

Yet in 1968, the Olympic Rings could be seen on tracksuits worn by the henchmen of arch villain Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The Olympic Rings will be everywhere in Sochi. At each Games, organisers try to present them in an original and symbolic fashion. They have become one of the signature moments of the Opening Ceremony.

In 1980 when the Games were first held in Russia, they appeared on a chariot, accompanied by men and women in Greek costume.

In 1988, high over the city of Seoul, each ring was formed by five groups of six skydivers each wearing jumpsuits in the appropriate colour as they came to form the rings high above the stadium before making a dramatic descent.

The Barcelona Games of 1992 were the first in a generation to be free of political boycott. The organisers came up with a memorable idea.

"All athletes from all over the world are competing under the same flag so we thought it would not be a bad idea to turn that into reality," said Luis Bassat, President of the company that produced the Ceremonies.

Workmen in Turin use a template of the Rings to make the Olympic lanes for official traffic ©Philip Barker

Workmen in Turin use a template of the Rings to make the Olympic lanes for official traffic at the 2006 Winter Games ©Philip Barker

A giant Olympic flag, 106 metres long and 70 metres wide, was manufactured.

The huge flag was unfurled as the choir sang the Barcelona anthem "Friends for Life".

The athletes beneath sensed the symbolism and eagerly pulled the flag over the entire infield. It also caught the imagination of Samaranch, who said the greatest moment he'd ever seen at an Olympics was when the athletes of the world were "united under the Olympic Flag".

In Sydney, giant rings, 75 metres wide and 35 metres high, were installed on Sydney Harbour Bridge. They "dominated the skyline throughout the Games and identified Sydney as a remarkable host city," said IOC marketing chief Michael Payne.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and in Athens two years later, the five circles were depicted in fire. In Torino, five giant Olympic Rings appeared above the entrance to the Stadio Olimpico as acrobats performed.

"A tribute to Olympism in its most powerful form that gives a solid concrete dimension to the dream of every hopeful young athlete," said the organisers.

Every team passed under the Rings as it entered the stadium.

At Beijing 2008, thousands of LED lights were used to create a stunning representation of the Olympic symbols. These were entitled "Dream Rings".

Giant Rings welcomed visitors to St Pancras railway station during
London 2012 ©Getty Images

In London, there were also giant Rings to welcome visitors to St Pancras railway station and at Tower Bridge, the rings folded every time the bridge opened.

The Greek village of Olympia, where the Olympic flame is lit, the local municipality has even laid paving stones with the five Rings. In Olympic cities, Rings have also been used to mark out the Olympic lanes for official transport.

In 2014 as at previous Games, athletes without a country will march under the Olympic flag as individual participants. These will include any Indian athletes who qualify as their National Olympic Committee is currently under suspension.

Born in Hackney, a stone's throw from the 2012 Olympic Stadium, Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Sky Sports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and TalkSPORT, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications.