The Flag Handover Ceremony

The flag handover ceremony is a tradition of the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, signaling the end of the current Olympiad and the official beginning of the next host city’s responsibility to stage the Games four years later.

As per Olympic protocol, the Mayor of the current host city returns the Olympic Flag to the IOC President, who then passes it on the Mayor of the next host city. At the February 26 Closing Ceremony, Torino Mayor Sergio Chiamparino handed over the Olympic Flag to IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge. Dr. Rogge, in turn, presented the flag to Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan.

Mayor Sullivan is the first quadriplegic mayor to accept the flag on behalf of a host city in the history of the Games. A specially designed stainless steel holster and custom flag pole (approximately five metres or 16.4 ft) were added to the Mayor’s high-tech motorized wheelchair in order to assist him to receive the Olympic Flag. Both were designed and manufactured by City of Vancouver engineers in collaboration with two local disability organizations, the Tetra Society and Neil Squire Society.

About the Olympic Flag

• Six square metres (64.6 square feet)
• Features five interlocking rings in blue, yellow, black, green and red on white background
• Its six colours represent all continents of the world, united by Olympism
• Originally designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games
• The flag will be on public display in Vancouver City Hall; an Olympic flag will be raised outside Vancouver City Hall on February 28, 2006

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