Why does greece walk first in the olympics

A tradition has also developed of honoring upcoming Olympic host nations by having them move to the end of the order, just in front of the host nation.

For instance, this year in Tokyo, the US delegation entered third-to-last, as hosts of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; followed by France, which will host the Summer Olympics in Paris ; and finally, the Japanese delegation. As its name suggests, this group is comprised of international athletes who have been forced to flee their home countries; they enter under the Olympic flag.

Unlike , when this team entered second-to-last, this year's Refugee team entered second overall, just behind Greece and before the alphabetical entrance.

Since the modern Olympics first began over a century ago, Greece has only moved out of their first position once. In , the Summer Olympics returned to the birthplace of the Olympics in Athens, making Greece the host country. In that case, where they had the traditional "right" to enter both first and last, they did something a little different.

The Greek flag-bearer entered first, honoring the traditional role of Greece in opening the Parade of Nations, and the whole Greek delegation entered at the end, the traditional place for the host nation. The prominence of Greece in every Olympic opening ceremony is a simple but significant tradition that highlights the history of the Olympics, even as the Games expand and change over the centuries. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news.

Cork Gaines and Scott Davis. The Winter Olympics kicked off with the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang on Friday. Greece once again led the parade of nations, as is tradition, because of their role in the origin of the Olympics.

The rest of the order is determined alphabetically by the host nation's language. Sign up for notifications from Insider!

Greece will once again be at the front of all the athletic teams in the opening ceremonies in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, perhaps prompting a question as to why Greece leads the world in this way, every two years. This year, Greece will lead and Japan will accordingly be last. The rest of the athletes will be in the alphabetical order of the Japanese alphabet. The modern Olympic Games are the leading international sporting event featuring both Summer and Winter sports competitions.

The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart. The Tokyo Olympics, however, were postponed because of the Covid pandemic , and have been rescheduled for this summer. The first Olympic Games took place in the year BC.

Competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. During the Games, all differences, conflicts — even outright war — among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. However, some historians say that the postponment of hostilities between rival cities is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce, however, did allow those religious pilgrims who were traveling to Olympia to pass through warring territories undisturbed because they were protected by Zeus.