I don't think the IOC considers them to recognize continents. It is said the five colors represent all the flags of the world at least one color appearing in every flag.
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The reason the colours of the Olympic rings are the way they are is that every country in the world has at least one of the ring colours in their countries flag.
blue
it represents every countries that have participate in the Olympic Games
The Rings symbolize each geographical area. Each country within these areas has a minimum of one colour on the emblem in their national flag. No one ring has any specific meaning. There were 5 countries and so 5 different coloured rings.
This info from www.olympics.org: "The Olympic symbol consists of five interlaced rings of equal dimensions, used alone, in one or in five different colours, which are, from left to right, blue, yellow, black, green and red. The Olympic symbol (the Olympic rings) expresses the activity of the Olympic Movement and represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. But watch out! It is wrong, therefore, to say that each of the colours corresponds to a certain continent!" There is an even more comprehensive explanation at this address: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1303.pdf
Every country has at least one of these colors on their flag