1998 Winter Olympics national flag bearers
Order Nation Japanese Roman transliteration Flag bearer Sport
1 Greece ( GRE ) ギリシャ Girisha Vasilios Dimitriadis Alpine skiing
2 Andorra ( AND ) アンドラ Andora Victor Gómez Alpine skiing
3 Argentina ( ARG ) アルゼンチン Aruzenchin Carola Calello Alpine skiing
4 Armenia ( ARM ) アルメニア Arumenia Alla Mikayelyan Cross-country skiing
5 Australia ( AUS ) オーストラリア Ōsutoraria Richard Nizielski Short track speed skating
6 Austria ( AUT ) オーストリア Ōsutoria Emese Hunyady Speed skating
7 Azerbaijan ( AZE ) アゼルバイジャン Azerubaijan Yuliya Vorobyova Figure skating
8 Belarus ( BLR ) ベラルーシ Berarūshi Aleksandr Popov Biathlon
9 Belgium ( BEL ) ベルギー Berugī Conrad Alleblas Chef de Mission
10 Bermuda ( BER ) バミューダ Bamyūda John Hoskins Chef de Mission
11 Bosnia and Herzegovina ( BIH ) ボスニア・ヘルツェゴビナ Bosunia Herutsuegobina Mario Franjić Bobsleigh
12 Brazil ( BRA ) ブラジル Burajiru Marcelo Apovian Alpine skiing
13 Bulgaria ( BUL ) ブルガリア Burugaria Lyubomir Popov Alpine skiing
14 Canada ( CAN ) カナダ Kanada Jean-Luc Brassard Freestyle skiing
15 Chile ( CHI ) チリ Chiri Duncan Grob Alpine skiing
16 China ( CHN ) 中華人民共和国 Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku Zhao Hongbo Figure skating
17 Croatia ( CRO ) クロアチア Kuroachia Janica Kostelić Alpine skiing
18 Cyprus ( CYP ) キプロス Kipurosu Andreas Vasili Alpine skiing
19 Czech Republic ( CZE ) チェコ Cheko Lubomír Buchta Cross-country skiing
20 Denmark ( DEN ) デンマーク Denmāku Helena Blach Lavrsen Curling
Part of a series on the 1998 Winter Olympics Bid process Venues Torch relay Mascots Opening ceremony ( flag bearers ) Medal table ( medalists ) Closing ceremony ( flag bearers ) IOC JOC NAOC vte During the Parade of Nations section of the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony , athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena . The flag from each team was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country . Unlike the usual practice , the parade of nations was organized according to the English alphabet instead of host nation 's language , Japanese . The reasoning behind this is that if Japanese had been used , the teams from political foes China and Chinese Taipei ( informally known as Taiwan ) would have marched in succession , which neither wanted to do at the time . Greece led the parade , followed by Andorra . Had the parade followed the Japanese characters , Greece would have been followed by Iceland , and Russia would have been the penultimate country before Japan . One sumo wrestler and one yukiko ( lit . snow children ) which bears a country name sign marched before each delegation . Some of famous sumo wrestlers such as Takanonami and Wakanohana accompanied the teams . [ 1 ] The yukikos also took part in several other segments in the ceremony .
During the Parade of Nations section of the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena. The flag from each team was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country. Unlike the usual practice, the parade of nations was organized according to the English alphabet instead of host nation's language, Japanese. Greece led the parade, followed by Andorra. Had the parade followed the Japanese characters, Greece would have been followed by Iceland, and Russia would have been the penultimate country before Japan. One sumo wrestler and one yukiko (lit. snow children) which bears a country name sign marched before each delegation. Some of famous sumo wrestlers such as Takanonami and Wakanohana accompanied the teams. The yukikos also took part in several other segments in the ceremony.