Guinness World Records 2018

Flags

SOCIETY

TALLEST

FLAGPOLE

On 23 Sep 2014,

Jeddah Municipality

and Abdul Latif

Jameel Community

Initiatives (both

SAU) erected a 171-m

(561‑ft) flagpole

in Jeddah, Saudi

Arabia. The Saudi

flag that flies from

the pole measures

32.5 x 49.35 m (106 ft

7 in x 161 ft 10 in) –

large enough to cover

six tennis courts.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Haiti and Liechtenstein realized that their

flags were identical. In 1937, Liechtenstein added a crown to its flag.

Most common colour in national flags

The colour red appears on 74% of all national

flags. White and blue rank second and third in

popularity, appearing on 71% and 50% of all

national flags respectively.

Longest national flag (official aspect ratio)

Qatar’s flag is the only national flag to have

a width more than twice its height, based on

its official height‑to‑width ratio of 11:28. The

maroon flag with a broad white nine‑pointed

serrated stripe on the hoist side (see right) was

adopted on 9 Jul 1971 – just before Qatar gained

independence from Britain on 3 Sep of that year.

Smallest national flag

The Institute for Quantum Computing (CAN)

created a 0.697-micrometre^2 facsimile of the

Canadian flag, as measured on 6 Sep 2016

in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Its colour was

created by oxidizing a bare silicon wafer in a

tube furnace in order to grow a layer of silicon

dioxide of a carefully chosen thickness. Thin film

interference effects in the silicon dioxide layer

give the flag a red colour. However, the flag is too

small for conventional imaging techniques, so

the only images of it that we are able to see are

in electron‑microscopy greyscale.

First raising of the Olympic flag

Designed in 1914 by Pierre de Coubertin (FRA),

the founder of the modern Olympic Games, the

Olympic flag was first raised at the 1920 Games

in Antwerp, Belgium. It features five interlaced

rings, representing the continents from which

the Olympic athletes come. Its colours – blue,

yellow, black, green and red, combined with

the white background – were chosen because

the national flag of every country contains at

least one of them. The original flag was lost

after the Antwerp Games and a replacement

had to be made for the Paris Olympiad in 1924.

In 1997, it was revealed that it had been stolen

from the flagpole at the 1920 Games, for a dare,

by US athlete Hal Haig Prieste.

The first raising of the gold medallist’s

flag at an Olympic medal ceremony

took place at the 1932 Games, held

in Los Angeles, California, USA.

In 2008, the swimmer Natalie du Toit

(ZAF) became the first flag-bearer

at a Summer Olympic and

Paralympic Games, at

the Olympiads staged

in Beijing, China. The

13‑time Paralympic

gold medallist is one

of only nine athletes

to have competed at

both the Olympics

and Paralympics.

LARGEST...

Flag draped (laid flat)

A flag made by Moquim Al Hajiri of Brooq Magazine

(both QAT) measured 101,978 m² (1,097,682 sq ft)

in Doha, Qatar, on 16 Dec 2013. That’s the

equivalent of around 390 tennis courts!

The largest flag suspended measured

2,661.29 m² (28,645 sq ft) and was

manufactured by Abina Co., Ltd (THA) in

Chiang Rai, Thailand, on 30 Nov 2016. The

flag was suspended from three cranes.

Car mosaic of a national flag

On 2 Dec 2009, an array of 413 cars formed a

mosaic of the United Arab Emirates flag for an

event organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth

and Community Development in Al Fujairah, UAE.

Mural of a flag

A 15,499.46‑m² (166,834‑sq‑ft) mural of the

US flag was displayed on the roof of a building

in Destin, Florida, USA, on 14 Apr 2016. Slightly

smaller than the area of three American football

fields, the mural was created by the artist Robert

Wyland (USA). The project began in Oct 2015

and was completed in Apr 2016.

MOST...

National flags displayed

in one city in 24 hours

On 29 May 2000, the town of Waterloo in

New York, USA, placed 25,898 American flags

on display. Nearly 300 children participated in

the event, which was a highlight of Waterloo’s

commemorative weekend, celebrating the

town’s historical role as the birthplace of

the Memorial Day holiday.

Different flags flown simultaneously

On 12 Dec 2016, American Express Meetings

& Events (USA) flew 462 unique flags at the

INTER[action] showcase held at the New Orleans

Morial Convention Center in Louisiana, USA.

People performing flag signals

The Scout Association of Hong Kong (CHN)

united 23,321 people to make flag signals at

Hong Kong Stadium on 21 Nov 2010. They

used their flags to signal “HKS100” and mark

the centenary of their organization.

Q: What do the triangular

shapes of Nepal’s flag

(see right) signify?

A: The Himalayan mountains

This enthusiastic

fan of flags changed

his name to Guinness

Rishi in 1995. Prior to

that date, he was known

by his birth name of

Har^ Parkash Rishi.

The only non‑rectangular

flag is that of Nepal

The only flag to have

different emblems on its

obverse and reverse sides

is Paraguay

The flags of Chad and

Romania are identical

Rotate the Polish flag (top)

to get the flags of Indonesia

and Monaco

The Norwegian flag contains

within it the flags of six

other countries: 1: France;

2: Netherlands; 3: Poland;

4: Thailand; 5: Indonesia; and

6: Finland (not proportional)

According to the US

Flag Code, the Stars and

Stripes “represents a

living country and is itself

considered a living thing”

Contrary to

popular belief, it

is okay to burn

the Stars and

Stripes: the Boy

Scouts of America

set thousands of

them alight every

year on Flag Day

(14 Jun)

Anatomy of a flag

Canton

Fly

Width

Hoist

Length

6

1

2

3 4

5

MOST FLAGS TATTOOED ON THE BODY

Guinness Rishi (IND) adorned his body with 366 tattoos

of flags between Jul 2009 and Jul 2011. He first achieved

this record in May 2010, but went on to break it with an

additional 61 flags, inked on to his body at KDz TATTOOs

Body Art Studio in New Delhi, India. It took 3 hr 3 min

altogether to complete these extra flags.