When does each country march during Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony?

Next to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, nothing may be more exciting at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics than the Parade of Nations, when all the athletes competing at the Games march behind their respective flags.

Generally, the order each country enters depends on the alphabet of the host nation, in this case, China. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee decided it would go with the stroke order of the first character each country's name in Simplified Chinese.

Greece traditionally leads the parade, regardless of its place in the alphabet, because that is where the Olympics originated. The host country enters last.

The International Olympic Committee recently changed the rules to have the hosts of the next Olympics enter right before the host nation. Italy will welcome the world for the Winter Games in 2026, so its athletes will enter before the Chinese.

Representatives from 91 nations are taking part, including about 80% of the U.S. delegation of athletes.

But as Bloomberg notes, the alphabetical order isn't a hard rule. Iran and Israel were separated by Italy during the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, possibly for political reasons. The IOC reportedly said at the time the change was made "to reflect the appropriate protocols."

The team of Russian athletes will be the official midpoint of the parade. They’re here competing under the Olympic emblem and not the Russian flag, part of the sanctions handed down to that nation’s Olympic committee for doping scandals such as the one that overshadowed the 2014 Sochi Games.

Opening Ceremony Country Order for Winter Olympics

Here is what order the countries will enter the stadium at the Opening Ceremony. NBC will show it live on air and by livestream at 6:30 a.m. EST Friday, due to the 13-hour time difference. It will re-air at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.

1. Greece 
2. Turkey 
3. Malta 
4. Madagascar 
5. Malaysia 
6. Ecuador 
7. Eritrea 
8. Jamaica 
9. Belgium 
10. Japan
11. Chinese Taipei 
12. Hong Kong 
13. Denmark 
14. Ukraine 
15. Uzbekistan 
16. Brazil 
17. Pakistan
18. Israel 
19. East Timor 
20. North Macedonia 
21. Luxembourg 
22. Belarus 
23. India 
24. Lithuania 
25. Nigeria 
26. Ghana 
27. Canada 
28. San Marino 
29. Kyrgyzstan 
30. Armenia 
31. Spain 
32. Liechtenstein 
33. Iran 
34. Hungary 
35. Iceland 
36. Andorra 
37. Finland 
38. Croatia 
39. Saudi Arabia 
40. Albania 
41. Argentina 
42. Azerbaijan 
43. Latvia 
44. Great Britain 
45. Romania 
46. Russian Olympic Committee
47. France 
48. Poland 
49. Puerto Rico 
50. Bosnia and Herzegovina 
51. Bolivia 
52. Norway 
53. Kazakhstan 
54. Kosovo 
55. Bulgaria 
56. United States 
57. American Samoa 
58. Virgin Islands
59. Thailand 
60. Netherlands 
61. Georgia 
62. Colombia 
63. Trinidad and Tobago 
64. Peru 
65. Ireland 
66. Estonia 
67. Haiti 
68. Czech Republic 
69. Philippines 
70. Slovenia 
71. Slovakia 
72. Portugal 
73. South Korea 
74. Montenegro 
75. Chile 
76. Austria 
77. Switzerland 
78. Sweden 
79. Mongolia 
80. New Zealand 
81. Serbia 
82. Cyprus 
83. Mexico 
84. Lebanon 
85. Germany 
86. Moldova 
87. Monaco 
88. Morocco 
89. Australia 
90. Italy 
91. China

Why isn't the Parade of Nations in alphabetical order?

That's a trick question. It is, just not alphabetical in English. 

According to the International Olympic Committee, the order for the Beijing Olympics Parade of Nations is alphabetical according to the language of the host country. 

Since these Olympic Games are being hosted in China, the order is determined by the number of strokes in the Chinese characters. And even then there are some exceptions.