2010 Winter Olympics national flag bearers


During the Parade of Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, held beginning at 6:00 PM PST on February 12, 2010, 82 athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into BC Place Stadium in the host city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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.
Delegations from North Korea and South Korea marched in separate delegations, unlike in the 2006 Winter Olympics when they marched together.
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. 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. 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.
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.

Parade of Nations

OrderNationFlag bearerSport
1Biathlon
2Alpine skiing
3Cross-country skiing
4Snowboarding
5Alpine skiing
6Alpine skiing
7Snowboarding
8 & Wolfgang LingerLuge
9Skating official
10Ice hockey
11Figure skating
12Cross-country skiing
13Alpine skiing
14Snowboarding
15Snowboarding
16Alpine skiing
17Alpine skiing
18Han XiaopengFreestyle skiing
19Alpine skiing
20Biathlon
21Alpine skiing
22Ice hockey
23Ri Song-CholFigure skating
24Freestyle skiing
25Biathlon
26Cross-country skiing
27Ice hockey
28Alpine skiing
29Biathlon
30Alpine skiing
31Bobsleigh
32Alpine skiing
33Skeleton
34Han Yue ShuengShort track speed skating
35Figure skating
36Alpine skiing
37Luge
38Alpine skiing
39Bobsleigh
40Figure skating
41Cross-country skiing
42Freestyle skiing
43Speed skating
44Biathlon
45Kang Kwang-BaeBobsleigh
46Alpine skiing
47Skeleton
48Alpine skiing
49Bobsleigh
50Cross-country skiing
51Alpine skiing
52Biathlon
53Alpine skiing
54Cross-country skiing
55Alpine skiing
56Alpine skiing
57Cross-country skiing
58Bobsleigh
59Snowboarding
60Ice hockey
61Alpine skiing
62Cross-country skiing
63Speed skating
64Cross-country skiing
65Biathlon
66Ice hockey
67Alpine skiing
68Alpine skiing
69Alpine skiing
70Ice hockey
71Alpine skiing
72Cross-country skiing
73Snowboarding
74Ice hockey
75Figure skating
76Ma Chih-hungLuge
77Alpine skiing*
78Cross-country skiing
79Luge
80Luge
81Alpine skiing
82Speed skating

General