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| 1972 Summer Olympics |
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During the Parade of Nations section of the 1972 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
As the nation of the first modern Olympic Games, Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation West Germany marched last, according with tradition and IOC guidelines. Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in the host country's language, German, by actor and television personality Joachim Fuchsberger [1] and music during the parade of nations is composed by Kurt Edelhagen. [2]
Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under acronym or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. The People's Republic of the Congo entered as Congo (Kongo instead of Volksrepublik Kongo), South Korea (Republic of Korea) entered as Korea instead of Republik Korea, Taiwan (Republic of China) entered as Republik China, and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) entered as Vietnam. Acronyms used during the ceremony like East Germany (German Democratic Republic), North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) entered respectively as DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), DVR Korea (Demokratische Volksrepublik Korea) and UdSSR (Union der Sozialistischen Sowjeterepubliken), United States in other hand entered the same as English, USA instead of its full German name Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, and host nation West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) entered as Germany (Deutschland instead of Bundesrepublik Deutschland or its acronym BRD) to avoid with the two Germanies.
121 nations entered the stadium with a combined total of 7,134 athletes. Eleven nations made their Olympic debut, namely Albania, Dahomey (now Benin), Gabon, North Korea, Lesotho, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Swaziland, Togo, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). Rhodesia's invitation to take part in the 1972 Summer Games was withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee four days before the opening ceremony, in response to African countries' (such as Ethiopia and Kenya) protests against the Rhodesian government. (Rhodesia did, however, compete in the 1972 Summer Paralympics, held a little earlier in Heidelberg.) Rhodesian athletes would have been marched between Republic of China and Romania. [3] [4]
The following is a list of each country's announced flag bearer. The list is sorted by the order in which each nation appears in the parade of nations. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC.
This table is sortable by country name (in German), the flag bearer's name, and the flag bearer's sport.
Zimbabwe participated for the first time at the Olympic Games under its current name in 1980, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. Previously, it competed at the Games under the name Rhodesia in 1928, 1960 and 1964. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi marked Zimbabwe's first participation at the Winter Olympic Games, with Luke Steyn, the Zimbabwean born athlete participating in alpine skiing.
During the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, athletes from each participating country paraded in the stadium, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Paralympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country. It is considered a great honour to bear the country's flag in the Parade of Nations.
Southern Rhodesia first participated as Rhodesia in the Olympic Games in 1928, when it sent two boxers to Amsterdam, both of whom were eliminated in their second bout. The dominion did not appear at the Games under a Rhodesian banner until 1960, when it sent a fourteen-athlete delegation as part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In Rome, two sailors, Alan David Butler and Christopher Bevan, finished fourth, which was Rhodesia's best result until it became Zimbabwe in 1980. Southern Rhodesia sent 29 competitors, including a field hockey team, to the 1964 Summer Games, which was its last Olympic appearance under the Rhodesian banner.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games, athletes from each participating country paraded in the Olympic Stadium, preceded by its flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Paralympic Committee or by the athletes themselves.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1992 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1964 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country. Although the Games were held in Japan, English was used to organize the Parade of Nations instead of Japanese. Had the parade followed the Japanese characters, Greece would have been followed by Iceland, and Rhodesia would have been the penultimate country before Japan. The Japanese language order would not be introduced until 2020 when the country hosted the games for the second time.
During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the parade of nations portion of the 1984 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the parade of nations section of the 1976 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from his or her respective country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
During the 2018 Winter Olympics Parade of Nations at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, beginning at 20:00 KST (UTC+9) on 9 February 2018, athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in the host city of Pyeongchang, South Korea. 92 teams qualified to compete.
During the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics, athletes from each participating country paraded in the Maracanã Stadium, preceded by its flag and placard barrier. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Paralympic Committee or by the athletes themselves.
During the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the flag bearers of 92 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) arrived into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium on February 25. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in single file, and behind them marched all the athletes. The flags of each country were not necessarily carried by the same flag bearer as in the opening ceremony. The flag-bearers entered in ganada order of the Korean alphabet.
During the 2018 Winter Paralympics Parade of Nations at the 2018 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony, beginning at 20:00 KST (UTC+9) on 9 March 2018, athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in the host city of Pyeongchang, South Korea.
During the Parade of Nations at the 2018 Asian Games opening ceremony, beginning at 19:00 WIB (UTC+7) on 18 August 2018, athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in the co-host city of Jakarta, Indonesia, preceded by their flag and placard bearer. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves. In keeping with tradition, the host nation, Indonesia entered last. 44 teams marched in.
During the Parade of Nations within the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 4th, athletes and officials from each participating country marched in the Beijing National Stadium preceded by their flag and placard bearer bearing the respective country's name. Each flag bearer was chosen either by the nation's National Olympic Committee or by the team of athletes themselves.
During the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China the flag bearers of 91 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) arrived into Beijing National Stadium on February 20th. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in single file, and behind them marched all the athletes. The flags of each country were not necessarily carried by the same flag bearer as in the opening ceremony.
During the opening ceremony of the 1928 Summer Olympics, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded into the arena. As Olympic tradition dictates, most participating nations paraded in the alphabetical order of the language of the host country, except Greece, who enters first at the founding nation of the Olympics, and the host country who enters last.
During the Parade of Nations, athletes from all participating countries entered the Olympisch Stadion. Each team was led by a flag bearer that was one of their athletes or officials, designated either by their respective National Olympic Committee (NOC) or by the athletes themselves.
 Olympic Games national flag bearers by year | |
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| Summer Olympics | |
| Winter Olympics | |
| Intercalated Games | |
| Summer Youth Olympics | |
| Winter Youth Olympics | |
