| Independent Olympians at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | IOP, IOA, OAR |
| Medals |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Independent Olympic Participants (1992) Individual Olympic Athletes (2000) Independent Olympic Athletes (2012) Independent Olympic Athletes (2016) | |
| Winter appearances | |
| Independent Olympic Participants (2014) | |
This is a list of flag bearers who have competed as Individual Olympic Athletes at the Olympics. [1]
Flag bearers carry the Olympic Flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
| Event year | Season | Flag bearer | Sport | Nationality [NB 1] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Winter | Volunteer from POCOG | N/A | ? | [2] |
| 2016 | Summer | Rose Nathike Lokonyen | Distance running |  South Sudan | [3] Refugee Olympian Team (ROT) ;  UNHCR identified refugees selected by the  IOC. [4] The Flag Bearer from South Sudan was certified by the  Kenyan NOC [3] |
| 2016 | Summer | Volunteer from the organizing committee | N/A | ? | Independent Olympian Team (IOA) ; IOC allowed competitors separate from their nationalities. The Kuwaiti NOC was barred from 2016, leaving their Olympians to compete independently, along with other independents. The  Kuwaiti flag bearer Fehaid al-Deehani did not carry the Olympic Flag. [5] [6] [7] |
| 2014 | Winter | Volunteer from SOCOG | N/A | ? | [8] |
| 2012 | Summer | Brooklyn Kerlin (from LOCOG) | N/A |  United Kingdom not a competitor | [9] |
| 2000 | Summer | Victor Ramos | Boxing |  East Timor | [10] |
| 1992 | Summer | none | N/A | Athletes from Independent Olympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Olympics did not attend the parade of nations, but still competed at the Games. [11] | |
The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and commonly known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
Athletes from Kuwait competed in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. However, Kuwaiti athletes competed under the Olympic flag as the Kuwait Olympic Committee had been suspended by the International Olympic Committee in January 2010 due to government interference.
Four Independent Olympic Athletes competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the United Kingdom. These were athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles, and from the newly formed state of South Sudan. This was the third time that athletes had competed as independent participants in the Olympics. None of the athletes won an Olympic medal.
Athletes have competed as Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from the Republic of North Macedonia, East Timor, South Sudan and Curaçao following geopolitical changes in the years before the Olympics, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a result of international sanctions, from India and Kuwait due to the suspensions of their National Olympic Committees, and Russia for mass violations of anti-doping rules.
2014 Winter Olympics Parade of Nations was part of the opening ceremony at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The national team from each nation participating in the Olympic Games was preceded by their national flag flag bearer into Fisht Olympic Stadium in the host city of Sochi, Russia. The flag bearer was an athlete of each national delegation chosen, to represent the athletes, either by the National Olympic Committee or by the national team.
During the closing ceremony in Sochi, Russia most of the 88 nations competing selected one member of their delegation to be the flagbearer. Some countries for example, Morocco chose the same athlete as the opening ceremony. On the other hand, some countries such as Luxembourg had already left the Olympic village, and therefore a volunteer carried the flags for those countries.
During the Parade of Nations within the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes and officials from each participating country marched in the Maracanã Stadium 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.
During the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the flag bearers of 207 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) arrived into Maracanã Stadium. The flags of each country were not necessarily carried by the same flag bearer as in the opening ceremony.
South Sudan competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The South Sudan National Olympic Committee (NOC) was admitted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 128th IOC Session on 2 August 2015.
Independent Olympic Athletes competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. The team was composed of Kuwaiti athletes who competed under the Olympic flag, as the Kuwait Olympic Committee had been suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the second time in five years due to governmental interference.
The Refugee Olympic Team competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016, as independent Olympic participants. In March 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach declared that the IOC would choose five to ten refugees to compete at the Rio Olympics, in the context of the "worldwide refugee crisis", of which the European migrant crisis is a prominent part. Additionally, as part of an effort "to show solidarity with the world's refugees", the United Nations Refugee Agency selected Ibrahim Al-Hussein, a Syrian refugee residing in Athens, Greece, to carry the Olympic flame through the Eleonas refugee and migrant camp in the city as part of the 2016 torch relay.
South Sudan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. South Sudan had been an independent nation since 2011, but its civil war had delayed its membership with the International Olympic Committee until 2015, making 2016 its first official appearance at the Olympic Games. The country was offered three universality placements in athletics, as no South Sudanese athletes met the Olympic qualifying standards prior to the Games. Three athletes, two men and one woman, competed in three track and field events, but did not win any medals. The sole woman, Margret Rumat Hassan, was given a spot eight days prior to the start of the Games that had been allotted previously to Mangar Makur Chuot. This change was against the advice of the South Sudan Athletics Federation and was due allegedly to pressure from Samsung, for whom Hassan had appeared in an advertisement. The flagbearer for both the opening and closing ceremony was Guor Marial, a marathon runner who, then unable to represent South Sudan, had competed as an Independent Olympic Athlete in 2012. Five South Sudanese nationals also competed as members of the Refugee Olympic Team.
Kiribati competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to 21, 2016. This was the nation's fourth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
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. 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 Parade of Nations at the 2017 Asian Winter Games opening ceremony, held on 19 February 2017, 30 athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into the Sapporo Dome in the host city of Sapporo, Japan.
Tonga competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018. It was represented by a single athlete, cross-country skier Pita Taufatofua. Pita Taufatofua, once again, marched into the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium shirtless, smothered in coconut oil, and dressed in a traditional ta'ovala, after previously doing so in Rio.