Elisa Gray, age 9, of High Point, N.C., for her question:

WHAT DO THE FIVE OLYMPIC RINGS STAND FOR?

The modern Olympic Games were organized to encourage world peace and friendship and also to promote amateur athletics.

Official symbol for the Olympics is made of five interlocking rings that represent the continents of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and a combination of North and South America.

The rings are in five different colors: black, blue, green, red and yellow. These five colors were selected because each of the more than 100 nations that usually send more than 8,000 athletes    including more than 1,000 women    have at least one of these colors in their flags.

The first modern games held in 1896 had 285 male athletes representing 13 nations.