2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations was part of the opening ceremony that originating with the 1896 Olympic Games. The national team from each nation participating in the Olympic Games paraded behind their national flag into the Olympic Stadium. 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.
Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in French, English, (the official languages of the Olympics) and Mandarin Chinese with music accompanying the athletes as they marched into the stadium.
Per tradition, Greece entered first as the spiritual home of the Olympic Games, and the host country, China, entered last. All nations in between marched in the order of their names in Chinese, the host country's language.
Characters with fewer strokes march earlier, so Australia (ๆพณๅคงๅฉไบ) marched before Zambia (่ตๆฏไบ) because ๆพณ has 15 strokes and ่ต has 16 strokes.
If the initial characters have the same number of strokes, then the stroke orders of the two characters are grouped in the order ๆฉซ็ซๆๆบๆ (horizontal/vertical/left falling/right falling/fold). For example, Yemen (ไน้จ) marched before Maldives (้ฉฌๅฐไปฃๅคซ) because ไน has three strokes in the order ใไธจใ (525), while ้ฉฌ has three strokes in the order ใใใ (551).
Multiple Chinese sources reported that if the initial characters had the same number of strokes, the second characters would be used.[3][4] However, this is inaccurate as Chad (ไนๅพ, stroke count 5-11) marched before Ghana (ๅ ็บณ, stroke count 5-7) because ไน (stroke order ใใไธจใใ (31211)) is ordered in front of ๅ (stroke order ใใไธจใใ (53251)).
If the stroke order groups are still the same, the initial characters tie and the second characters of each nation are used.
Excluding identical characters, a tie only occurred once, with The Gambia (ๅๆฏไบ) and Benin (่ดๅฎ). ๅ has four strokes in the order ไธจใใใ (2534), and ่ด has four strokes in the order ไธจใใใ (2534), so the second characters were used. ๆฏ has 4 strokes and ๅฎ has 5 strokes, so The Gambia marched before Benin.
Note that this differs from GB stroke-based order, which also uses the ๆฉซ็ซๆๆบๆ system. Under GB stroke-based order, the comparison between ใ and ใ would have been the tiebreaker, with ใ ordering before ใ due to having fewer turns. This would have caused ่ด to be ordered before ๅ instead of the two characters tying, and Benin would have marched before The Gambia.
If the second characters still have the same number of strokes, then the stroke order groups are used again. For example, Djibouti (ๅๅธๆ) marched before Kyrgyzstan (ๅๅฐๅๆฏๆฏๅฆ) because ๅธ has five strokes in the order ใใไธจใไธจ (13252), while ๅฐ has five strokes in the order ใใใใใ (35234).
If the third characters still have the same number of strokes, the stroke order groups are not used and it skips to the fourth character. Excluding identical characters, this only occurred once: the US Virgin Islands (็พๅฑ็ปดๅฐไบฌ็พคๅฒ) marched before American Samoa (็พๅฑ่จๆฉไบ), since ็ปด and ่จ both have 11 strokes, ใ (5) sorting behind ใ (1) is ignored, and ๅฐ (5 strokes) sorts in front of ๆฉ (15 strokes).
Two nations were ordered based on a different name:
Macedonia marched under its then-provisional designation "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (ๅๅๆฏๆๅคซ้ฉฌๅ ถ้กฟๅ ฑๅๅฝ), but was sorted under "Macedonia" (้ฉฌๅ ถ้กฟMวqรญdรนn).
The United Arab Emirates marched under its short name in Chinese (้ฟ่้ ฤliรกnqiรบ), but was sorted under its full name (้ฟๆไผฏ่ๅ้ ้ฟๅฝฤlฤbรณ Liรกnhรฉ Qiรบzhวngguรณ).
Three nations marched out of order:
During the 2000, 2004, and 2006 Olympics, South Korea (้ฉๅฝ) and North Korea (ๆ้ฒๆฐไธปไธปไนไบบๆฐๅ ฑๅๅฝ) had marched as one team under the Korean Unification Flag. However, during these 2008 Olympics, negotiations failed for political reasons. Despite this, by coincidence in Simplified Chinese, the sort order would have placed North Korea immediately after South Korea, since ้ฉ and ๆ both have 12 strokes starting with ใไธจไธจใ (1225) which no other 12-stroke country starts with. The organizing team left this as-is, but North Korea refused to march next to South Korea and successfully requested to be moved three teams later in the parade order.[5] South Korea marched under its short name "Korea" in French and English.
Under the original sort order, Israel (ไปฅ่ฒๅ) (ใใใใ (5434)) would have marched immediately after Palestine (ๅทดๅๆฏๅฆ) (ใไธจใใ (5215)), but instead marched 22 teams earlier, apparently under the fiction (ไธจใใใ (2434)) between Vanuatu (็ฆๅช้ฟๅพ) (ใใใใ (1554)) and Japan (ๆฅๆฌ) (ไธจใใใ (2511)).
During the 2022 Winter Olympics in which Palestine did not compete, this did not occur and Israel marched afterPakistan (ๅทดๅบๆฏๅฆ), which starts with the same character as Palestine.
For unknown reasons, Tonga (ๆฑคๅ ) marched afterAndorra (ๅฎ้ๅฐ) and other nations beginning with ๅฎ, even though ๆฑค (ใใใใกใใ (441533)) sorts in front of ๅฎ (ใใใใใใ (445531)). By comparison, Zimbabwe (ๆดฅๅทดๅธ้ฆ) marched in front of Tunisia (็ชๅฐผๆฏ) as expected, under the same circumstances (ๆดฅ and ็ช both have 9 strokes and begin with a comparison between ใใใ (441) and ใใใ (445)).
Multiple sources reported that Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) (ไธญๅๅฐๅ) and the Central African Republic (ไธญ้) had switched places to prevent Taiwan from marching next to Hong Kong (ไธญๅฝ้ฆๆธฏ),[6][7] but this is inaccurate as ้ (ไธจใใใไธจใใใ (21112111)) is naturally ordered before ๅฝ (ไธจใใใไธจใใใ (25112141)). Taiwan had originally requested to march under ๅฐTรกi.[7][8]
Zaobao reported that a contingency plan had been set up so that if Central African Republic athletes did not arrive at the opening ceremony, a BOCOG volunteer would still hold the country's placard and march between Taiwan and Hong Kong.[7] However, this is not unusual (for example, the same occurred during the 2016 Summer Olympics parade when athletes from Eritrea did not arrive until after the opening ceremony).
Brunei was excluded from the Games by the IOC shortly before the Opening Ceremony as no athletes had been registered.[9] One of the published lists of flag bearers was later edited to note this.[10] Brunei athletes would have originally marched 36th between Uzbekistan and Barbados.
List
The following is a list of each country's flag bearer. The list is sorted by the sequence that each nation appeared in the parade of nations. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC, and the Chinese names follow their official designations by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.
This table is sortable by country name in English, country name in simplified Chinese, country name in pinyin, flag bearer name, and flag bearer sport.
