Viewers from around the world will be tuning in Friday as nearly 3,000 athletes gather for the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Team USA chose speedskater Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca to serve as flagbearers for this event.
At the opening ceremony, Olympic cauldrons will be lit using the Olympic torch in Milan and Cortina, the two host cities in northern Italy. The order of nations entering during the Parade of Nations changes annually but maintains Greece’s position at the forefront as its birthplace of the modern Games. This year, Japan enters before Hungary due to how their names are spelled in Italian.
The final country to enter is always the host nation, and the penultimate participant is usually the next Olympics’ host, which will be France for the 2030 Winter Games. The Olympic Refugee Team and athletes from Russia and Belarus, known as AIN or Individual Neutral Athletes, do not participate in this year’s Parade of Nations.
The modern Olympics began in 1896 with the introduction of the Parade of Nations at the 1908 London Games. According to Mark McDowell, a tour guide at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, the structure of the opening ceremony has largely remained unchanged, but there have been notable changes over time. For instance, athletes no longer march with their equipment as they did in the 1920s; instead, they follow a more structured process.
The Parade of Nations for both Summer and Winter Olympics follows a similar format, though the number of participating nations differs due to differences in sports offerings between summer and winter games. Athletes are welcome but not all participate in the ceremony due to potential physical demands associated with standing for hours before competing in their sport.
For many athletes, including those from Team USA, participation in the Parade of Nations is considered a significant highlight, embodying national pride and camaraderie.