Olympic Games ceremony their work during the Games. Next, two other national flags are hoisted on flagpoles one at a time while the corresponding national anthems are played: the flag of Greece to again honor the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and the flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games. In Moscow, Soviet Union, during the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, the flag raised to represent the next games host was that of the City of Los Angeles instead of the flag of the boycotting United States. In Sydney and Athens, two Greek flags were raised because Greece was
Ice hockey at the Olympic Games entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis. In 1986, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to allow professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games starting in 1988. The National Hockey League (NHL) was initially reluctant to allow its players to compete because the Olympics are held in the middle of the NHL season, and the league would have to halt play if many of its players participated. Eventually, NHL players were admitted starting in