However, in a nod to tradition, the Greek flag and flag bearer Pyrros Dimas entered at the beginning of the parade ahead of Saint Lucia, to avoid breaking the tradition entirely.
Kiribati and Timor-Leste competed for the first time at these Olympic Games, whereas Afghanistan returned from its eight-year absence after the national Olympic committee had been suspended under the Taliban regime since 1999.
[1][2] Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in Greek, French, and English (the official languages of the host country and of the Olympics, respectively) with the music, performed and played by Dutch musician Tiësto, accompanying the athletes as they marched into the stadium.
The British Virgin Islands ("Βρετανικές Παρθένοι Νήσοι") entered under Β while the United States Virgin Islands entered as simply the "Virgin Islands" ("Παρθένοι Νήσοι"), under Π. Additionally, Ivory Coast, the United States, Iran, Laos, Libya, Russia, Syria and Hong Kong all entered under their formal names, respectively "Côte d'Ivoire", the "United States of America", "Islamic Republic of Iran", "Lao People's Democratic Republic", "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya", "Russian Federation", "Syrian Arab Republic" and "Hong Kong, China".
Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: triple Grand Slam champion and tennis player Roger Federer (Switzerland), NBA basketball player Yao Ming (People's Republic of China), six-time Olympians and Star sailors Colin Beashel (Australia) and Torben Grael (Brazil), triple Olympic weightlifting champion Pyrros Dimas (Greece), show jumper Ludger Beerbaum (Germany), two-time Olympic sprint freestyle champion Alexander Popov (Russia), four-time rowing champion Elisabeta Lipă (Romania), decathlon champion Erki Nool (Estonia), and rings gymnast Jury Chechi (Italy).