The Olympic rings were publicly presented for the first time in:

The Olympic rings were designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, and were presented publicly for the first time in 1913. They appeared at the top of a letter written by Coubertin and were described in the August 1913 issue of the "Olympic Review", the official magazine of the IOC.

Later history of the rings:

• 1914: the rings and the Olympic flag were officially presented at the Olympic Congress in Paris, held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IOC.
• 1916: the rings were supposed to appear at the Berlin Olympics, but those Games were cancelled because of World War I.
• 1920: the Olympic flag with the five rings was flown for the first time at an Olympic Games, at the Antwerp Olympics in Belgium.

The original flag used at Antwerp went missing after the Games. In 1997, an American athlete, Hal Haig Prieste, who had taken it as a prank in 1920, returned it to the IOC.

Meaning of the rings:

• The five interlaced rings, in blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background, represent the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from around the world.
• Coubertin chose the colours because at least one of them appeared in the national flag of every country at that time.

Other Olympic "firsts":

• 1896: first modern Olympics (Athens).
• 1900: women competed for the first time (Paris).
• 1920: Olympic flag and athletes' oath introduced (Antwerp).
• 1924: first Winter Olympics (Chamonix) and the motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" was used officially at the Games.
• 1928: Olympic flame lit for the first time at the Games (Amsterdam).
• 1936: first torch relay (Berlin).
• 1972: first official Olympic mascot, Waldi (Munich).

Why not the other options?

• ✗1896 is the year of the first modern Olympics, before the rings existed.
• ✗1920 is when the Olympic flag was first flown at the Games.
• ✗1924 is the year of the first Winter Olympics.