Explained: Why does Greece always march first in Parade of Nations at Olympics opening ceremony?

New Delhi: The Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony took place on Friday (July 26). This was the first time in the history of the Summer Olympics Games that an opening ceremony was held at a river, rather than a stadium.

Around 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including the Refugee Olympic Team, participated at the 33rd Summer Games in the French Capital. The Parade of Nations is one of the traditions where all participating nations (contingents) takes a march. In this case, there was a river parade since the ceremony will took place at the River Seine, whose route was a six-kilometre stretch from east to west.

There were 94 boats expected for the river parade and athletes will get a view of some of the venues where the Paris Olympics events will fold up. For instance, the route went through Parc Urban La Concorde, Esplanade des Invalides, Grand Palais before the parade stopped at the Irena bridge.

Traditionally, Greece is the first nation which goes for the march in the Parade of Nations because the Olympic moment took birth in the European country. The first modern Olympics Games was held in Athens in 1896. Hence, Greece gets the first march for its contribution and idea of Olympics, which is said to be founded over 1000 years ago.

The Olympic Refugee Team, which was founded in 2016, takes the second march after Greece. Meanwhile, the host country wraps the march with the nations set to host the next two editions of the Summer Olympics Games will precede the host nation. In this case, USA (Los Angles 2028) and Australia (Brisbane 2032) marched just ahead of France.

When did India march in the river parade?

The Indian contingent, comprising 117 players and 140 support staff members, was slotted to parade at 84th place. Veteran table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal and ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu were the designated flagbearers of India.