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| 1984 Summer Olympics |
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During theparade of nations portion of the1984 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 theNational Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
As the nation of thefirst modernOlympic Games,Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation of theUnited States marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (English), according to tradition andIOC guidelines.[1]
Whilst most countries entered under theirshort names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. TheRepublic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) entered with the compromisedname andflag of "ChineseTaipei" under T so that they did not enter together withconflictingPeople's Republic of China (commonly known as China), which entered as the "People's Republic ofChina" under C.
A record 140 nations entered the stadium with a combined total of 7,078 athletes.[2] Eighteen nations made their Olympic debut, namelyBahrain,Bangladesh,Bhutan,British Virgin Islands,Djibouti,Equatorial Guinea,Gambia,Grenada,Mauritania,Mauritius,North Yemen,Oman,Qatar,Rwanda,Samoa,Solomon Islands,Tonga, and theUnited Arab Emirates. ThePeople's Republic of China made its first appearance at the Summer Olympics since1952, while theRepublic of China participated for the first time under the nameChinese Taipei as a result of the IOC agreement. Thirteen countries, namelyAfghanistan,Angola,Bulgaria,Cuba,Czechoslovakia,Ethiopia,East Germany,Hungary,Laos,Mongolia,North Korea,Poland, andVietnam, were part of theSoviet Union-boycott of these Games.[3][4] Apart from thePeople's Republic of China (a communist country that had substantially warmer relations with the United States than with the Soviet Union, following theSino–Soviet split),[5]Romania andYugoslavia were among the socialist countries to disregard the boycott and attend the Games.Albania,Iran,Burkina Faso andLibya also did not compete at the Games, citing political reasons unrelated to the Soviet Union.[6]
Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: six-time Olympian and Star sailorHubert Raudaschl (Austria); defending Olympic championsStelios Mygiakis (Greece) in Greco-Roman wrestling,Esko Rechardt in Finn sailing,Angelo Parisi (France) in heavyweight judo,Sara Simeoni (Italy) in women's high jump,Corneliu Ion (Romania) in rapid fire pistol shooting, andAlejandro Abascal (Spain) in the Flying Dutchman; middle-distance runner and 1976 Olympic championJohn Walker; dressage riderChristine Stückelberger (Switzerland); professional basketball playerDražen Dalipagić (Yugoslavia), who led his men's team to capture the gold medal inMoscow four years earlier; and hammer throwerEd Burke (United States), who competed in his third appearance since the1968 Summer Olympics inMexico City.[7]
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.
 Olympic Games national flag bearers by year | |
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| Summer Olympics | |
| Winter Olympics | |
| Intercalated Games | |
| Summer Youth Olympics | |
| Winter Youth Olympics | |
