During the Parade of Nations at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2020 Summer Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inter ...

, athletes from each participating country paraded in the Japan National Stadium, preceded by its flag and placard carrier. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Paralympic Committee (NPC) or by the athletes themselves. For the first time ever, each NPC was invited to appoint one female and one male athlete to jointly carry their flag during the Opening Ceremony.

Parade order

In the announcement of the Refugee Paralympic Team, it was stated that the team would enter first in the parade of nations. The rest of the countries entered in order, with the three final countries being the United States, France, and Japan, as the current host and the next two hosts of the Paralympic Games, France in 2024 and the United States in 2028, Paris and Los Angeles respectively. Under the assumption that Afghanistan's athletes would be unable to compete in the Paralympics due to the Fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

invited the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) to represent Afghanistan in the Parade of Nations as a "sign of solidarity". However, the UNHCR declined to name a representative and a volunteer served as Afghanistan's flagbearer. The two athletes,

Zakia Khudadadi Zakia Khudadadi also spelt as Zakia Khodadadi ( ps, ذکیه خدادادی; born 29 September 1998) is an Afghan parataekwondo practitioner. She is the first Afghan female taekwondo practitioner. She rose to prominence after winning the African ...

and

Hossain Rasouli Hossain Rasouli ( ps, حسین رسولي; born 10 August 1995) is an Afghan Paralympic athlete. He would represent Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was initially denied the opportunity to compete at his maiden Paralympics due to the ...

, were evacuated from Afghanistan two days after the opening ceremony and later confirmed their participation in the Paralympics. The two carried Afghanistan's flag at the closing ceremony. New Zealand's athletes also did not participate in the parade. Solomon Islands had its national flag paraded at the opening ceremony, but ultimately the Solomon Islands team withdrew from the 2020 Summer Paralympics without coming to Japan.

Countries and flag bearers

Notes

Reviews

The names of each para-athlete who participated in the Opening Ceremony's Parade were projected and scrolled on the "

digital signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in public ...

" equivalent to the inner diameter of the stadium.

References

External links