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| 2000 Summer Olympics |
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During theParade of Nations portion of the2000 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 ofAustralia marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (English), according with 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.Macedonia entered as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'" because of thenaming dispute with Greece. 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. TheRepublic of the Congo entered as just "Congo" while theDemocratic Republic of Congo entered with its full name.Iran,Micronesia,Moldova,Laos,Brunei and theUnited States all entered under their formal names, respectively "Islamic Republic ofIran", "Federated States ofMicronesia", "Republic ofMoldova", "Lao People's Democratic Republic", "Brunei Darussalam" and "United States of America".
A record of 199 nations entered the stadium with the exception ofAfghanistan, a nation banned by theIOC in 1999 because of the extremist rule of theTaliban's oppression on women and its sports.[2][3] The parade of nations also featured a unified entrance by the athletes of the North and South Korea, holding a specially designedunification flag bearing the name "Korea": a white background flag with a blue map of the Korean peninsula; however, the two teams competed separately.[4] Four athletes fromEast Timor marched directly in the opening ceremonies asindividual Olympic athletes before the host nation. Without the existence of the National Olympic Committee, they were allowed to compete under theOlympic flag.[5]
Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: windsurferNikolaos Kaklamanakis (Greece), Olympic beach volleyball championSandra Pires (Brazil), tennis playerNicolás Massú (Chile), heavyweight boxing championFélix Savón (Cuba), long-distance runnerDerartu Tulu (Ethiopia), sprint kayaker and five-time gold medalistBirgit Fischer (Germany), coxless pairs rower and double gold medalistMatthew Pinsent (Great Britain), show jumperPrincess Haya (Jordan), discus thrower and 1992 Olympic championRomas Ubartas (Lithuania), dressage riderAnky van Grunsven (Netherlands), middle-distance runnerVebjørn Rodal (Norway), two-time Greco-Roman wrestling championAndrzej Wroński (Poland), five-time rowing championElisabeta Lipă (Romania), four-time Olympic handballerAndrey Lavrov (Russia), six-time Olympic water polo playerManuel Estiarte (Spain), and basketball playersCarlton Myers (Italy) andAndrew Gaze (Australia).
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 | |
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