Zaïre Olympic Committee (Zaïre)

Comité national olympique zaïrois

Last modified: 2023-06-10 by zachary harden
Keywords: sporting flags | zaïre | olympics | olympic rings | red flame | torch | national olympic committee |
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image by Zachary Harden, 13 June 2018

• The Flag

• National Olympic committees
• International Olympic Committee
• International Sporting Organizations
• Zaire

The Flag

The Zaire Olympic Committee (Comité national olympique zaïrois, IOC Code ZAI) was a continuation of the DR Congo Olympic Committee, initially formed in 1963 and was recognized by the IOC on 31 December 1967. DR Congo was under this name from 1971 until 1997 in the terms of the Olympics and first competed as Zaire in 1984 Los Angeles. It was not until the 2000 Sydney Games that Zaire was changed back to DR Congo.
According to "3 mars 1976. – DÉCISION OLYMPIQUE 003/76 portant création et protection des emblèmes olympiques du Comité national olympique zaïrois." (3 March 1976 - Olympic Decision 003/76 For the creation and protection of the Olympic Emblems and of the Zaire National Olympic Committee), there was a flag that was created.
According to the law, the flag is green with the golden Olympic rings; on top of the rings is a grey torch with a red flame. Unfortunately, there is no picture of the flag or emblem to show. The only thing I have found was that there was a badge released for the 1988 Games and it shows the hand/torch from the Zaire flag ontop of the Olympic rings
Source: https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/380829881759_/1988-Seoul-Summer-Olympics-Noc-Pin-From-Zaire.jpg
Using the description of the 1976 Decision, I reconstructed the Zaire NOC flag.
To add some information from http://library.la84.org/OlympicInformationCenter/OlympicReview/1979/ore143/ore143q.pdf (Olympic Review No. 143, Sept 1979, p 521), the DR Congo NOC was founded on 28 November 1963 and it has a better detail of the emblem. Still no evidence of a real flag available.
the image of the Zaire NOC.
Zachary Harden, 13 June 2018