page_title: 2010 Winter Olympics national flag bearers
section_title: Parade of Nations
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Winter Olympics national flag bearers / Parade of Nations
caption_attribution_description: Ice hockey player Ville Peltonen leads Finland in the Parade of Nations. The Opening Ceremony for the 21st Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada was truly an event that I feel privileged to have attended. There is something about the Olympics, and the way it is able to unite the World. I met people from every corner of the globe, every one of them in a cheerful mood, every one of them getting along. Only an event like the Olympics can bring people from so far apart, so close together. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Absolutely amazing&#160;:)
context_page_description: During the Parade of Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, held beginning at 6:00 PM PST on February 12, 2010, 82 athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into BC Place Stadium in the host city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  Athletes entered the stadium in an order dictated by tradition. As the originator of the Olympics, Greece entered first. Canadian delegates entered last, representing the host nation. The names of the nations were announced first in French and followed by English, the official languages of the Olympics, which also happened to be the official languages of the host nation. The nations entered in alphabetic order of their country names in English because it is the more dominant of the two languages in Vancouver and in the province of British Columbia.
  Delegations from North Korea and South Korea marched in separate delegations, unlike in the 2006 Winter Olympics when they marched together.
  Of the flag-bearers who led their respective delegations, all but one were athletes, the exception being Fuad Guliyev, a skating official from Azerbaijan.
context_section_description: Kudratov carried the flag even though he wasn't scheduled to compete.
caption: The Finnish flag being carried by Ville Peltonen.
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