ever since i can remember, every two years — winter or summer — i watch the olympics.  day after day, i am spellbound by the speed, agility, flexibility and strength of the athletes.  i am deeply inspired by their dedication, focus, sacrifice and commitment.  watching them makes me want infuse excellence in to every aspect of my life.

the olympic rings are a powerful and provocative brand image — for me, just looking at them triggers all of the emotion i describe above. and of course, being the color obsessed soul that i am, i am drawn to the primacy of the palette.

looking into the graphical history of the rings, i discovered that the five colors — blue, black, red, yellow and green — came from those colors that appeared on all the national flags of the world at the time the symbol was created — every flag of a country participating in the olympics includes one of the colors in the 5 rings. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, conceived the symbol. the five rings represent the union of the five main regions of the world — Africa, the Americas (North and South America are combined), Asia, Europe and Oceania — and they interlock to symbolize the meeting of athletes from around the world at the games.

knowing that both the olympics and the word iota rose from the culture of ancient greece, and being artistically drawn to the symbol for as long as i could remember, i simply could not help myself!  as you can see below, it was time for me to imagine the olympic rings wearing iota colours.

enjoy!

and allow the elevating spirit of the games to stay with you long after the closing ceremonies are over.