How Coubertin arrived at his design is a mystery many have tried to solve. A similar five ring design was to be seen on a 19th century "Lampe Olympe" but the rings were inverted. Two on top and three below. It is entirely possible that Coubertin may have seen this and drawn inspiration at the very least. Certainly, French sporting organisations in the late nineteenth century also used linked rings as a logo.

There had been no Olympic flag at the London Games of 1908 but the designs to be used for medals and official badges were organised as never before. Organising Committee member Sir Theodore Cook had been closely involved with that process. In 1909 he became an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and the following year, at the IOC Session in Luxembourg, item six of the minutes records that he "presented a design for a flag and several  specimen medals".

These were to be considered by a commission which comprised Cook himself and aristocracy from around Europe. There was Switzerland's Godfroy de Blonay, Count Clarence de Rosen of Sweden, the Italian Eugenio Brunetta d'Usseaux and Jules de Musza of Hungary had discussed the matter at some length. When it was raised in Lausanne in 1913, Cook was not present. The American Evert Jansen Wendell is recorded as speaking against the proposals and this was supported by the other members so they were not acted on.

By this time Coubertin had sketched out his own ideas, which originally bore interlaced ribbons with the Olympic motto. He used them in letter heads and then at last was ready to reveal them to a wider world. "This truly is an International emblem," he wrote. "It was made to be turned into a flag. It is a light appealing flag, a delight to see fluttering in the wind. Its meaning is largely symbolic and its success assured."

He circulated his design and modestly noted that had met "with immediate general admiration."

The participants of the Olympic Congress 1914 in Paris gathered around Pierre de Coubertin, overlayed with the new symbol of Olympic Games - the Olympic rings ©Wikipedia

It was to be flown at the IOC Session and Congress in Paris in 1914. These meetings were to mark 20 years since the revival of the Olympic Games. These celebrations "now have the eurhythmic messagers they needed to announce them," he said with a flourish. Not that the message had quite got through to the printers. An invitation to a music and dance performance which was part of the festivities had the rings printed upside down.

In any case Paris was not the first city in which the Olympic flag had been raised. A few weeks before it had flown in Egypt. IOC member Angelo Bolanaki asked for and received permission to fly the flag at the opening of the Chatby Stadium in Alexandria. He kept the flag that was used in his private collection but almost half-a-century later, he presented it to the IOC

The next Olympic Games were scheduled for 1916 in Berlin, but the new symbol never flew in the Kaiser's capital because Europe had been plunged into war. After four long years of conflict, peace returned at last, and at the 1920 Games in Antwerp, the flag flew officially at the Games for the first time.

At Sydney 2000, American diver Hal Haig Prieste handed back a unique Olympic flag which he stole at the end of the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The distinctive design was immediately popular with the competitors, perhaps a little too much so. A bronze medal winning American diver called Haig Prieste took one of the flags as a souvenir. He kept this precious item for nearly 80 years and finally returned it to the Olympic Movement at a short ceremony during the 2000 Games. The IOC President who received the flag in Sydney was Juan Antonio Samaranch, who had been born in July 1920 and was less than two months old when the flag was originally taken.

Antwerp had a hand in one of the enduring traditions of the Olympic Movement. To symbolise continuity  they travelled to Paris in 1924 to present  a special ceremonial Olympic flag to the city. This ritual became known as the "Antwerp Flag" ceremony. The city which had just hosted the Games retained the flag and was charged with taking it to the next host city four years later. So there were representatives of Paris in Amsterdam in 1928 and so on.

In 1936 the rings were everywhere to be seen in Berlin. Adolf Hitler had been a critic of the Olympic Movement before he came to power in 1933 but all that soon changed once he had become Chancellor. Berlin had already been awarded both Summer and Winter Games in 1936 and he became determined that they would be unsurpassed.

In February of the Olympic year, The Times carried the news that  Hitler had even introduced a new Olympic decoration. This was a five rayed star in white enamel. At its centre were the Olympic rings. Before the year was out, submarines in the rapidly growing Third Reich fleet were also painted with  the five rings, hardly the peaceful symbolism that Coubertin had intended.

At Berlin 1936 the Olympic rings appeared alongside the Swastika, symbol of the Nazi Party ©Wikipedia

In recent years, the Olympic symbol has been presented in dramatic ways by the host city. When London was bidding for the 2012 Games, they suggested that the Olympic Rings might be fixed to the Millennium  Wheel. This did not happen, but giant rings did down the River Thames in London and passed under Tower Bridge. Later rings were installed on the Bridge itself to welcome the arrival of the Olympic flame on the Royal Rowbarge Gloriana.

It was not the first time the rings had been seen on a river. In  2000, the Harbour Bridge in Sydney was illuminated each night with the five rings. It was one of the most memorable sights of the Games but it so nearly did not happen. The Australian Government's Olympic supremo Michael Knight considered the idea an unnecessary extravagance. Others could see the potential. "Knight would have to be tricked into paying," wrote IOC marketing boss Michael Payne in book Olympic Turnaround, published in 2005. 

"I understand you are thinking of applying the Olympic rings to Sydney Harbour Bridge but are not sure if you need the IOC'S approval. I think it is an excellent idea and am pleased to approve it," said then IOC President Samaranch. The huge steel rings weighed 35 tonnes, were 75 metres high and  cost one million dollars to erect but they proved a master stroke. They made the entire city appear "Olympic" and set the standard for others to follow.

Sydney Harbour Bridge was illuminated during the 2000 by the Olympic rings
©AFP/Getty Images

Today, those five rings are described as one of the most important "Olympic Properties". The regulation for their use is set down in the Olympic Charter, the rule book of the Olympic Movement. "All rignts belong exclusively to the IOC including, but not limited to the use, for any profit making, commercial or advertising purposes," it is laid out.

The IOC did not always have such tight controls. At elections in Cambodia in 1947, the Olympic rings were used by the Liberal Progressive Party as part of their symbol for voting purposes.

In 1980, as the campaign for a  boycott of the Moscow Olympics gathered momentum,a meeting of National Olympic Committees resolved to use their Olympic banners rather than national flags at the opening and closing and for medal ceremonies. The medal ceremony for the cycling 4,000 metres individual pursuit was an unusual sight. All three medallists were from countries who had signed the accord not to use their national flags so three Olympic flags were hoisted.

The boycott had an impact on the Olympic flag Handover Ceremony, though this did not become apparent for another four years. Canada had been one of the nations to boycott the 1980 Games. Although Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau had wanted to bring the flag to Moscow, it proved impossible for him to do so. The flag was instead presented by the two youngsters who had lit Montreal's Olympic cauldron.

At Moscow 1980, 65 countries, led by the United States, boycotted the Olympics in response to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, while several of those that did participate chose to use the Olympic flag instead of their own as a sign of protest ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The IOC saw the way the political wind was blowing and at their Session in Sarajevo before the 1984 Winter Olympics, they decided that henceforth the Olympic flag would be given to the future host city.There was yet to be a sting in the tail. The Soviets boycotted the Summer Games that year and did not send a colour party to accompany the flag when this was handed to Los Angeles. Instead Prince Alexandre de Merode, IOC member in Belgium, and Ivorian Louis Guirandou-N'Diaye  paraded it. They were accompanied by  Alice Landon and Aileen Riggin Soule, two members of the United States team at those 1920 Games in Antwerp.

The flag remained on Californian soil for the duration of the 1984 Olympics but no longer. At the end of the fortnight it was passed to Seoul. Nowadays it is always passed to the future hosts four years before they stage the Games. In 2016 Rio will entrust it to Tokyo, the next hosts. 

The Antwerp flag was by now over 60 years old, so the Seoul 1988 organisers, which was introduced at their Games.

The Winter Games have a similar flag, the gift of the 1952 host city Oslo. The exchange ritual is exactly the same as at the Summer Games.

The ceremonial flag is now kept in municipal buildings, but the largest Olympic flag of all is raised as an integral part of each Opening Ceremony.

As the head of State opens the Games, the flag is made ready for its grand entry to the stadium. It used to be brought in by a military colour party but now the bearers are chosen to represent the pillars of Olympism. The choice of flag bearers is almost as keenly awaited as the identity of the final runner in the torch relay.

Olympic champions are well represented in the flag party, but in 2006 for example, the group included actress Susan Sarandon and at Sochi 2014, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

In 1984 there was a poignant touch. Amongst those who paraded the flag in Los Angeles was Richie Sandoval, a boxer who had missed out on taking part in 1980 when the United States stayed away from Moscow.

That year the Olympic rings were also used  by the pro-boycott lobb. They had medals minted to recognise those who had decided not to compete at the Games  in Moscow. They bore the legend "honour before glory" and carried the Olympic Games linked by barbed wire. 

There was a variation on this theme in 2008. Protesters burst into the Ancient Olympic Stadium during the flame lighting ceremony for Beijing. They were demonstrating against China's policy in Tibet and they unfurled a banner which had the Olympic rings depicted as handcuffs on a black background.

A large black flag depicting the five Olympic rings as handcuffs was unveiled at the start of the Olympic Torch Relay for Beijing 2008 as a protest against Chinese policies in Tibet ©AFP/Getty Images

They  also been used in a more official way to solve political problems. In the late 1970s a deal was finally brokered to allow the People's Republic of China to compete alongside Taiwan. Part of the agreement was that the Taiwanese would use a special flag incorporating the Olympic rings and compete as Chinese Taipei.

More recently, the Olympic flag has  enabled competitors to take part at the Games, even when their National Olympic Committee is not recognised by the IOC. They participate as Individual Olympic Athletes and march behind the Olympic flag. A small team from East Timor did so at Sydney 2000.

More recently, India's Olympic Association was under suspension by the IOC so skiers Nadeem Iqbal and Himanshu Thakur both marched in the Opening Ceremony at Sochi 2014 under the Olympic Flag. During the Games India were reinstated by the IOC and so they left the Games under their own national banner.

The organisers of Sochi 2014 had more than their fair share of tribulations with the Olympic rings. One of the most memorable set pieces of any Opening Ceremony is the presentation of the rings.

At Barcelona 1992, this had been done with a giant flag stretched above the heads of all the athletes of the world. At Athens 2004 the rings had appeared in flames, and giant rings came together above the Stadium in London.

Sochi ceremonies producer Konstantin Ernst and his team wanted something spectacular to thrill the world. "As the voices and the music swell, the snowflakes iris out and transform into the Olympic rings, shining twinkling and sparkling with small fireworks  until a great and final climatic burst." That was the theory, but on the night, one ring failed to launch.

At the Closing Ceremony, the crowd in the Fisht Stadium roared their approval as dancers moved into position. They depicted four Olympic rings and a dot to represent the one that had not opened . Then the performers moved into the more conventional five ring formation.

A malfunction at the Opening Ceremony of Sochi 2014 meant that not all five Olympic rings were illuminated as they should have been ©AFP/Getty Images

Visitors might also have noticed giant Olympic rings on the approaches to Sochi International Airport. Each one was emblazoned with the name of one of the five continents. One was black for Africa,another yellow for Asia and the third green for Oceania. This was a mistake.

Coubertin himself had written about the significance of the colours. "These five rings represent the parts of the world now won over to Olympism, ready to accept its fruitful rivalries.In addition the six colours combined in this way represent the colours of every country without exception," he said.

Although he listed the colours of many nations including what he called "the tricolour flags of France, England, the United States,Germany, Belgium , Italy and Hungary" and described "the innovative flags of Brazil and Australia" he did not assign a colour to any specific continent.

The second Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing later this year will make extensive use of the rings when they take place this summer. At the first Youth Olympics in Singapore four years, many events had teams of mixed nationalities so the Olympic anthem was used at victory ceremonies as the five rings were raised.

Some of the competitors there may well be seen in Rio de Janeiro in two years tie. With the famous old  flag is set to fly at a South American Olympics for the first time.In such spectacular city in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain, the possibilities appear infinite. Coubertin would be impressed.

Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Skysports 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. His latest book, Lord's First: 200 Years of Making History at Lord's Cricket Ground, has recently been published. To follow him on Twitter click here.