Athletes entered the stadium in an order dictated by tradition. As the originator of the Olympics,
Greece entered first.
Canadian delegates entered last, representing the host nation. The names of the nations were announced first in French and followed by English, the official languages of the Olympics, which also happened to be the official languages of the host nation. The nations entered in alphabetic order of their country names in English because it is the more dominant of the two languages in Vancouver and in the province of British Columbia.
Of the flag-bearers who led their respective delegations, all but one were athletes, the exception being Fuad Guliyev, a skating official from
Azerbaijan. The sport which was most represented among the flag-bearers was
alpine skiing, as alpine skiers led 26 delegations. Only one delegation was led by a
short track speed skater,
Hong Kong, led by
Han Yue Shueng.[1]Marjan Kalhor, an alpine skier and the flag-bearer for
Iran, was both the first female flag bearer from her country and the first female athlete from her country to participate in the
Winter Olympics.[2] It was erroneously pointed out by a Canadian TV commentator that
Tomomi Okazaki was the first female flag bearer for Japan. This title goes to Seiko Hashimoto in
Calgary 1988. Other prominent flag bearers included Canadian speed skater and five-time Olympian
Clara Hughes,
American luger
Mark Grimmette, who had helped carry the American flag during the
2002 Winter Olympics, and
Czech hockey player
Jaromír Jágr. Hughes is the only Olympian ever to win multiple medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.[3]
Iason Abramashvili, flag bearer for
Georgia, along with the other members of his delegation, wore black armbands during the march and received a standing ovation in memory of
Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luger who was killed in an accident during a training run earlier in the day.[4]
Parade of Nations
The Czech flag being carried by Jaromír Jágr.The Finnish flag being carried by Ville Peltonen.The Georgian flag being carried by Iason Abramashvili. In this picture the flag has a
black ribbon.The German flag being carried by André Lange.The British flag being carried by Shelley Rudman.The Russian flag being carried by Aleksey Morozov.The Slovenian flag being carried by Tina Maze.The Swedish flag being carried by Peter Forsberg.The Canadian flag being carried by Clara Hughes.