2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations 2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations During the Parade of Nations portion of the 2008 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. Per tradition, the national team of Greece, which hosted the previous Summer Olympics, in Athens, entered first as the progenitor of the Olympic Games, and the host country, in this case the People's Republic of China, marched last. All
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on Twitter during the broadcast with the hashtag #nbcfail. Commentary by Bob Costas and Lauer during the Parade of Nations was also criticised for their negative opinions about some countries' political environments and for leaving out information about the athletes, which was seen as "smug American elitism". It was noted that they spoke about some countries with "outright condescension". The ceremony was recorded by three separate broadcasters: the BBC, the Olympic Broadcasting Services (directed by the Finnish state broadcaster YLE on behalf of the OBS), and by independent production company Done and Dusted, hired by LOCOG and working under Boyle's