2000 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations explained

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.

Parade order

As the nation of the first modern Olympic Games, Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation of Australia marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (English), according with tradition and IOC guidelines.[1]

Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. Macedonia entered as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'" because of the naming dispute with Greece. The Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T so that they did not enter together with conflicting People's Republic of China (commonly known as China), which entered as the "People's Republic of China" under C. The Republic of the Congo entered as just "Congo" while the Democratic Republic of Congo entered with its full name. Iran, Micronesia, Moldova, Laos, Brunei and the United States all entered under their formal names, respectively "Islamic Republic of Iran", "Federated States of Micronesia", "Republic of Moldova", "Lao People's Democratic Republic", "Brunei Darussalam" and "United States of America".

A record of 199 nations entered the stadium with the exception of Afghanistan, a nation banned by the IOC in 1999 because of the extremist rule of the Taliban's oppression on women and its sports.[2] [3] The parade of nations also featured a unified entrance by the athletes of the North and South Korea, holding a specially designed unification flag: a white background flag with a blue map of the Korean peninsula; however, the two teams competed separately.[4] Four athletes from East Timor marched directly in the opening ceremonies as individual Olympic athletes before the host nation. Without the existence of the National Olympic Committee, they were allowed to compete under the Olympic flag.[5]

Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Greece), Olympic beach volleyball champion Sandra Pires (Brazil), tennis player Nicolás Massú (Chile), heavyweight boxing champion Félix Savón (Cuba), long-distance runner Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia), sprint kayaker and five-time gold medalist Birgit Fischer (Germany), coxless pairs rower and double gold medalist Matthew Pinsent (Great Britain), show jumper Princess Haya (Jordan), discus thrower and 1992 Olympic champion Romas Ubartas (Lithuania), dressage rider Anky van Grunsven (Netherlands), middle-distance runner Vebjørn Rodal (Norway), two-time Greco-Roman wrestling champion Andrzej Wroński (Poland), five-time rowing champion Elisabeta Lipă (Romania), four-time Olympic handballer Andrey Lavrov (Russia), six-time Olympic water polo player Manuel Estiarte (Spain), and basketball players Carlton Myers (Italy) and Andrew Gaze (Australia).

List

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.

OrderNationFlag bearerSport
1 Sailing
2 Weightlifting
3 Athletics
4 Athletics
5 Athletics
6 Swimming
7 Athletics
8 Sailing
9 Wrestling
10 Athletics
11 Shooting
12 Wrestling
13 Athletics
14 Swimming
15 Shooting
16 Athletics
17 Wrestling
18 Judo
19 Athletics
20 Athletics
21 Equestrian
22 Archery
23 Athletics
24 Athletics
25 Boxing
26 Beach volleyball
27 Athletics
28 Athletics
29 Rowing
30 Athletics
31 Athletics
32 Athletics
33 Athletics (non-participant)
34 Canoeing
35 Athletics
36 Athletics
37 Athletics
38 Athletics
39 Tennis
40 Basketball
41 Weightlifting
42 Shareef Mohammed Official
43 Swimming
44 Sailing
45 Triathlon
46 Athletics
47 Table tennis
48 Boxing
49 Shooting
50 Canoeing
51 Athletics
52 Sailing
53 Athletics (non-participant)
54 Athletics
55 Weightlifting
56 Athletics
57 Taekwondo
58 Weightlifting
59 Swimming
60 Athletics
61 Sailing
62 Athletics
63 Sailing
64 Athletics
65 Canoeing
66 Judo
67 Judo
68 Athletics
69 Weightlifting
70 Canoeing
71 Athletics
72 Rowing
73 Athletics
74 Weightlifting
75 Shooting
76 Athletics
77 Wrestling
78 Athletics
79 Athletics
80 Swimming
81 Rowing
82 Canoeing
83 Athletics
84 Tennis
85 Badminton
86 Wrestling
87 Bashar Mohammad Ali Chef de mission
88 Athletics
89 Athletics
90 Basketball
91 Athletics
92 Judo
93 Equestrian
94 Boxing
95 Athletics
96 Korea (North) (PRK) Pak Jung-chul Official
96 Korea (South) (KOR) Basketball
97 Athletics
98 Wrestling
99 Sisomphone Vongpharkdy Athletics
100 Athletics
101 Athletics
102 Taekwondo
103 Athletics
104 Taekwondo
105 Shooting
106 Athletics
107 Swimming
108 Athletics
109 Athletics
110 Field hockey
111 Athletics
112 Judo
113 Judo
114 Athletics
115 Boxing
116 Diving
117 Weightlifting
118 Weightlifting
119 Judo
120 Judo
121 Judo
122 Athletics
123 Athletics
124 Boxing
125 Weightlifting
126 Swimming
127 Equestrian
128 Sailing
129 Equestrian
130 Shooting
131 Athletics
132 Athletics
133 Athletics
134 Athletics
135 Field hockey
136 Weightlifting
137 Athletics
138 Swimming
139 Swimming
140 Athletics
141 Volleyball
142 Taekwondo
143 Wrestling
144 Beach volleyball
145 Sailing
146 Athletics
147 Rowing
148 Handball
149 Pierre Karemera Official
150 Athletics
151 Athletics
152 Athletics
153 Boxing
154 Shooting
155 Athletics
156 Taekwondo
157 Athletics
158 Swimming
159 Athletics
160 Swimming
161 Canoeing
162 Rowing
163 Athletics
164 Athletics
165 Athletics
166 Water polo
167 Athletics
168 Mahmoud Kieno Chef de mission
169 Athletics
170 Boxing
171 Canoeing
172 Cycling
173 Moutassem Ghotouq Chef de mission
174 Table tennis
175 Boxing
176 Athletics
177 Boxing
178 Judo
179 Athletics
180 Athletics
181 Wrestling
182 Wrestling
183 Athletics
184 Boxing
185 Sailing
186 Shooting
187 Canoeing
188 Athletics
189 Boxing
190 Athletics
191 Taekwondo
192 Trương Ngọc Để Chef de mission
193 Athletics
194 Athletics
195 Volleyball
196 Athletics
197 Athletics
198 Boxing
199 Basketball

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: . November 2005 . Technical Manual on Ceremonies . . 2019-10-06 . 40 .
  2. Eligible for Athens: Afghanistan welcomed back into IOC fold. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 29 June 2003. 11 September 2013. 27 March 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20050327142124/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/2003/06/29/afghanistan_ioc/. dead.
  3. News: Robbins. Liz. Eligible for Athens: Afghanistan welcomed back into IOC fold. The New York Times. 7 June 2004. 20 September 2013.
  4. Olympic spirit: North, South Koreans march together in Ceremonies. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 14 September 2000. 20 September 2013. 21 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130921061458/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/2000/09/14/koreas_marchers_ap/. dead.
  5. News: Hersh. Phillip. Four Participants In Sydney Wear 'Individual Olympic Athletes' Badges. They're From Devastated East Timor, And Their Presence Embodies The Games' True Spirit. Chicago Tribune. 9 September 2000. 20 September 2013.