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During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1988 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 the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country.
Parade order
As the nation of the first modern Olympic Games, Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation South Korea marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (Korean), according with tradition and IOC guidelines. The collation method used is based on the names as written in Hangul, a traditional Korean alphabet.[1]
Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. The Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" ("차이니스 타이페이") under 타 ta, while the conflicting People's Republic of China (commonly known as China) entered as "중화인민공화국" under 중.
Among the nations with Korean names starting with 이 i, several reorderings occurred due the geopolitics. Hangul alphabetic order would have dictated Iraq → Iran → Israel → Egypt → Italy → India → Indonesia → Japan. As its protocol name at the IOC is Islamic Republic of Iran, the iranian delegation was moved three spaces later in the parade while Israel was moved five spaces later and was (an additional two spaces past Iran), changing the parade order into Iraq → Egypt → Italy → India → Iran → Indonesia → Japan → Israel.
160 National Olympic Committees (NOC)s entered with their delegations on the Olympic Stadium.[2][3] Eight NOCs made their Olympic debut: Aruba, American Samoa, Brunei, Cook Islands, Maldives, Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Yemen. South Africa was excluded since 1964 due to its apartheid policies.[4] Seven nations were part of the 1988 Summer Olympics boycott and did not participate in the Games.
Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: seven-time Olympian and Star sailor Hubert Raudaschl (Austria); defending Olympic champions Evelyn Ashford (United States) in the women's 100-metre dash;[5] Jouko Salomaki (Finland) and Vasile Andrei (Romania) in Greco-Roman wrestling; Ernesto Canto (Mexico) in race walking; Agneta Andersson (Sweden) in the women's kayak sprinting; Matija Ljubek in the men's canoe sprinting; and six-time Olympian Reiner Klimke (Federal Republic of Germany), who led the West German team to a gold-medal victory in the equestrian dressage; synchronized swimmers Mikako Kotani (Japan) and Carolyn Waldo (Canada), who eventually topped the podium in both the solo and duet routines; eight-time Olympian and Star sailor Durward Knowles (the Bahamas); eventual gold medalists Ulf Timmermann (German Democratic Republic) in the men's shot put and Aleksandr Karelin (Soviet Union) in the super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling; five-time track sprinter and Moscow 1980 champion Pietro Mennea (Italy); long-distance runner Grete Andersen-Waitz (Norway), who bagged a silver medal in the inaugural women's marathon four years earlier; and world-number-three tennis player Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina) in the women's singles.[6]
List
The following is a list of each participating National Olympic Committee enter. The names are given in their official designations by the IOC protocol guides.
Some differences occurred between the official placard displays and the official announcements:
- A number of designations were abbreviated on the placards, but announced in full.
- The United States delegation was announced as "the United States of America" and appeared on the placard as "U.S.A.".
- The Soviet Union delegation was abbreviated in both the announcements and the placard.
- South Yemen's delegation was announced as "Yemen Democratic Republic", but appeared on the placard as "Dem. Rep. of Yemen".
- Egypt's delegation was announced as the "Arab Republic of Egypt", but appeared on the placard as "Egypt".
- The Central African Republic delegation was announced as "Central African Republic", but appeared on the placard as "Central Africa".
- Côte d'Ivoire's delegation was announced as "Ivory Coast", but appeared on the placard as "Côte d'Ivoire".
- Congo's delegation was announced as "People's Republic of Congo", but appeared on the placard as "Congo".
- Fiji's delegation was announced as "Fiji Islands", but appeared on the placard as "Fiji".
See also
References
- "Technical Manual on Ceremonies" (PDF). International Olympic Committee. November 2005. p. 40. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
- "Seoul 1988". olympic.org. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
- Seoul surprises Nagoya for Olympic bid, UPI (United Press International), Morley Myers, Sept. 30, 1981.
- Janofsky, Michael (16 January 1988). "Cubans turn their back on the Seoul Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- Dodds, Tracy (17 September 1988). "Day 1: The Seoul Games: Enthusiasm Hasn't Flagged; In Her Third Games, Ashford Excited to Be Front and Center at Opening Ceremony". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- "#UnitedBy energy: Gabriela Sabatini". International Olympic Committee. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- "Robert Fellner". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
- "Flagbearers for 1988 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
- San Marino. Olympics at Sport-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Accessed 6 January 2024.