2008 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations designations by the IOC, and the Chinese names follow their official designations by the BOCOG. Main reference: 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
1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony Canadian singer Celine Dion and American singer Gladys Knight. The ceremony attendance was 85,600. It was watched by an estimated 3.5billion viewers worldwide. The ceremony began with a countdown at the screen coming from 60 to 1. Starting at 22, footage from previous games appeared with Atlanta at the end complete with an image of fireworks. The segment began by airing a flashback from the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in August 1992 which showed International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Spirits then rose from the northwest corner of