1998 Winter Olympics national flag bearers
During the Parade of Nations section of the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena. The flag from each team was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country. Unlike the usual practice, the parade of nations was organized according to the English alphabet instead of host nation's language, Japanese. Greece leads the parade followed by Andorra. Had the parade followed the Japanese characters, Greece would have followed by Iceland, and Russia would have been the penultimate country before Japan. One sumo wrestler and one yukiko (lit. snow children) which bears a country name sign marched before each delegation. Some of famous sumo wrestlers such as Takanonami and Wakanohana accompanied the teams.[1] The yukikos also took part in several other segments in the ceremony.
| Order | Nation | Flag bearer | Sport |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Greece (GRE) | Vasilios Dimitriadis | Alpine skiing |
| 2 |  Andorra (AND) | Victor Gómez | Alpine skiing |
| 3 |  Argentina (ARG) | Carola Calello | Alpine skiing |
| 4 |  Armenia (ARM) | Alla Mikayelyan | Cross-country skiing |
| 5 |  Australia (AUS) | Richard Nizielski | Short track speed skating |
| 6 |  Austria (AUT) | Emese Hunyady | Speed skating |
| 7 |  Azerbaijan (AZE) | Yuliya Vorobyova | Figure skating |
| 8 | .svg.png){kind=small} Belarus (BLR) | Aleksandr Popov | Biathlon |
| 9 | .svg.png){kind=small} Belgium (BEL) | Conrad Alleblas | Chef de Mission |
| 10 |  Bermuda (BER) | John Hoskins | Chef de Mission |
| 11 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | Mario Franjić | Bobsleigh |
| 12 |  Brazil (BRA) | Marcelo Apovian | Alpine skiing |
| 13 |  Bulgaria (BUL) | Lyubomir Popov | Alpine skiing |
| 14 |  Canada (CAN) | Jean-Luc Brassard | Freestyle skiing |
| 15 |  Chile (CHI) | Duncan Grob | Alpine skiing |
| 16 |  China (CHN) | Zhao Hongbo | Figure skating |
| 17 |  Croatia (CRO) | Janica Kostelić | Alpine skiing |
| 18 | .svg.png){kind=small} Cyprus (CYP) | Andreas Vasili | Alpine skiing |
| 19 |  Czech Republic (CZE) | Lubomír Buchta | Cross-country skiing |
| 20 |  Denmark (DEN) | Helena Blach Lavrsen | Curling |
| 21 |  Estonia (EST) | Kalju Ojaste | Biathlon |
| 22 |  Finland (FIN) | Janne Ahonen | Ski jumping |
| 23 |  Macedonia (MKD) | Gjoko Dineski | Cross-country skiing |
| 24 |  France (FRA) | Philippe Candeloro | Figure skating |
| 25 | .svg.png){kind=small} Georgia (GEO) | Sofia Akhmeteli | Alpine skiing |
| 26 |  Germany (GER) | Jochen Behle | Cross-country skiing |
| 27 |  Great Britain (GBR) | Mike Dixon | Biathlon |
| 28 |  Hungary (HUN) | Krisztina Egyed | Speed skating |
| 29 |  Iceland (ISL) | Theódóra Mathiesen | Alpine skiing |
| 30 |  India (IND) | Shiva Keshavan | Luge |
| 31 |  Iran (IRI) | Hassan Shemshaki | Alpine skiing |
| 32 |  Ireland (IRL) | Terry McHugh | Bobsleigh |
| 33 |  Israel (ISR) | Michael Shmerkin | Figure skating |
| 34 |  Italy (ITA) | Gerda Weissensteiner | Luge |
| 35 |  Jamaica (JAM) | Ricky McIntosh | Bobsleigh |
| 36 |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) | Vladimir Smirnov | Cross-country skiing |
| 37 |  Kenya (KEN) | Philip Boit | Cross-country skiing |
| 38 |  South Korea (KOR) | Hur Seung-Wook | Alpine skiing |
| 39 |  Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) | Aleksandr Tropnikov | Biathlon |
| 40 |  Latvia (LAT) | Sandis Prūsis | Bobsleigh |
| 41 |  Liechtenstein (LIE) | Tamara Schädler | Alpine skiing |
| 42 | .svg.png){kind=small} Lithuania (LTU) | Povilas Vanagas | Figure skating |
| 43 |  Luxembourg (LUX) | Patrick Schmit | Figure skating |
| 44 |  Moldova (MDA) | Ion Bucsa | Biathlon |
| 45 |  Monaco (MON) | Gilbert Bessi | Bobsleigh |
| 46 |  Mongolia (MGL) | Boldyn Sansarbileg | Short track speed skating |
| 47 |  Netherlands (NED) | Carla Zijlstra | Speed skating |
| 48 |  New Zealand (NZL) | Peter Henry | Bobsleigh |
| 49 |  Norway (NOR) | Espen Bredesen | Ski jumping |
| 50 |  Dem. People's Republic of Korea (PRK) | Yun Chol | Short track speed skating |
| 51 |  Poland (POL) | Jan Ziemianin | Biathlon |
| 52 |  Portugal (POR) | Mafalda Pereira | Freestyle skiing |
| 53 |  Puerto Rico (PUR) | José Ferrer | Bobsleigh |
| 54 |  Romania (ROM) | Mihaela Dascălu | Speed skating |
| 55 |  Russia (RUS) | Aleksey Prokurorov | Cross-country skiing |
| 56 |  Slovakia (SVK) | Ivan Bátory | Cross-country skiing |
| 57 |  Slovenia (SLO) | Primož Peterka | Ski jumping |
| 58 |  South Africa (RSA) | Shirene Human | Figure skating |
| 59 |  Spain (ESP) | Juan Jesús Gutiérrez | Cross-country skiing |
| 60 |  Sweden (SWE) | Torgny Mogren | Cross-country skiing |
| 61 |  Switzerland (SUI) | Guido Acklin | Bobsleigh |
| 62 |  Chinese Taipei (TPE) | Sun Kuang-Ming | Bobsleigh |
| 63 |  Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | Curtis Harry | Bobsleigh |
| 64 |  Turkey (TUR) | Arif Alaftargil | Alpine skiing |
| 65 |  Ukraine (UKR) | Andriy Deryzemlya | Biathlon |
| 66 |  United States (USA) | Eric Flaim | Short track speed skating |
| 67 |  Uruguay (URU) | Gabriel Hottegindre | Alpine skiing |
| 68 |  Uzbekistan (UZB) | Komil Urunbayev | Alpine skiing |
| 69 | .svg.png){kind=small} Venezuela (VEN) | Iginia Boccalandro | Luge |
| 70 |  Virgin Islands (ISV) | Paul Zar | Bobsleigh |
| 71 |  Yugoslavia (YUG) | Marko Đorđević | Alpine skiing |
| 72 |  Japan (JPN) | Hiroyasu Shimizu | Speed skating |
References
- ↑ "Akebono to perform 'dohyo-iri' at Olympic opening". shinmai.co.jp. January 28, 1998. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
External Links
- Countries - Sports-Reference.com
- おすもうさんと子供が先導 長野五輪 入場行進 ギリシャ(貴ノ浪)～フランス(琴龍) - YouTube
- 1998長野五輪 開会式（２）入場行進 Athletes March at Olympic Opening Ceremony - YouTube
- 1998 Olympics Opening Ceremony In Nagano Part 6
- List of sumo wrestlers who accompanied the delegations
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