According to the IOC, "The Rings appeared for the first time in 1913 at the top of a letter written by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. He drew and colored the rings by hand."
根据国际奥委会关于奥运五环的记录，“奥运五环在1913年首次面世，当时就在现代奥林匹克运动会的创始人——皮埃尔•德•顾拜旦的亲笔信抬头上。他本人亲自描画并为五环标志上色。”

In the Olympic Review of August 1913, Coubertin explained that "These five rings represent the five parts of the world now won over to Olympism and ready to accept its fertile rivalries. Moreover, the six colors thus combined reproduce those of all the nations without exception."
在1913年的《奥林匹克评论》杂志中，顾拜旦解释了这个图标的象征意义：“五环代表着世界上的五大洲如今已经争取了奥林匹克精神，并准备好与世界上的运动健儿们一较高下了。除此之外，六种颜色的结合，便把全世界各个国家和地区无一例外地体现了出来。”

The rings were first used in the 1920 Olympic Games held in Antwerp, Belgium. They would have been used sooner, however, World War One had interfered with the games being played during the war years.
1920年的奥运会在比利时的城市，安特卫普举办，而奥运五环也首次正式使用。其实它本来可以更早运用到奥运会中，但是由于第一次世界大战的缘故，阻碍了战争年间的一次奥运赛事。

Design Inspiration
设计灵感

While Coubertin may have given meaning as to what the rings meant after he designed them, according to historian Karl Lennantz, Coubertin had been reading a magazine illustrated with an advertisement for Dunlop tires that used five bicycle tires. Lennantz feels that the image of the five bicycle tires inspired Coubertin to come up with his own design for the rings.
虽然顾拜旦可能在设计奥运五环后给它赋予了象征意义，不过根据历史学家Karl Lennantz所说，顾拜旦应该早已阅读过一本配有五个轮胎图案的邓禄普轮胎杂志广告。Lennantz认为这五个轮胎的图案为顾拜旦提供了设计灵感，以此创造出属于他的奥运五环。

But there are different opinions as to what inspired Coubertin's design. Historian Robert Barney, points out that before Pierre de Coubertin worked for the Olympic committee he served as the president of the French sports-governing body, the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) whose logo was two interlocking rings, red and blue rings on a white background. This suggests that the USFSA logo inspired Coubertin's design.
不过，对于顾拜旦的五环设计的灵感来源仍然众说纷纭。历史学家Robert Barney指出，在顾拜旦就职于奥委会之前，他曾经担任法国体育管理部（USFSA）的部长，该部门的图案标志是两个内在衔接的圆环，分别是红色和蓝色，背景颜色是白色。这可能预示着USFSA的标志激发了顾拜旦五环设计的灵感。

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) has very strict rules concerning the use of their trademarks, and that includes their most famous trademark the Olympic rings. The rings must not altered, for example you can not rotate, stretch, outline, or add any special effects to the logo. The rings must be displayed in their original colors, or in a monochrome version using one of the five colors. The rings must on a white background, but a negative white on black background is allowed.
国际奥委会对于象征标志的使用有着非常严格的甄选标准，当然，这对于奥运五环的使用也不例外。五个圆环的形状不能发生变化，比如，你不可以对图标进行转动，拉伸，只画出大概轮廓，或者添加任何特效。奥运五环必须以原本的颜色呈现出来，或者使用五种颜色中的其中一种颜色的版本。五环必须置于白色的背景之中，不过黑白底片的形式也是允许的。

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