Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony 2022 Order of Countries: When Is Team USA Appearing?

Team USA will be on display at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics for the first time when they take part in the opening ceremony.

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As is tradition, the Parade of Nations will see each of the participating athletes walk through the stadium and wave their country’s flag in the process. In 2022, Beijing will become the first city to ever host both a Winter and a Summer Olympic Games, after they first hosted in 2008.

NBC will be hosting the opening ceremony live, and then will rerun it in a more U.S.-friendly time slot later in the day. If you want to make sure you catch the Team USA athletes during the event to cheer them on, read on.

When will Team USA appear in the Parade of Nations?

There are a total of 91 countries taking part in the 2022 Winter Olympics Parade of Nations. They will march in order of how many strokes it takes to write out each country’s name in the Chinese language.

Team USA will arrive just after the halfway point during the Parade of Nations, as they are listed as entrants number 56. They will arrive after Bulgaria and before the Virgin Islands.

Traditionally, the opening ceremony involves an impressive show of entertainment, related to the host country’s origins and traditions, followed by the lengthy Parade of Nations.

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Who are the Team USA flagbearers?

There’s been a last-minute change of plan for Team USA as one of their original picks for flag bearer, bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, tested positive for COVID-19.

Now it is down to curler John Shuster and speed skater Brittany Bowe to be the Team USA flag bearers for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Taylor is asymptomatic and personally made the phone call to Bowe to let her know that she now has the honor of carrying the USA flag around the Beijing National Stadium.

John Shuster and Brittany Bowe are Team USA’s flag bearers at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Stace Revere / Elsa/Getty Images

Other notable countries

As is tradition during the Parade of Nations at an Olympics, the inventors of the games, Greece, will enter the arena first.

The penultimate entrants into the stadium will be the hosts of the next Winter Olympics, which this time out will be Italy. The hosts of this year’s Winter Olympics, China, will enter the stadium last.

America’s neighbors Canada enter the stadium in 27th place, just after Ghana and before San Marino. Russian athletes are competing under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee and will arrive waving an Olympic flag with subtle Russian colors in 46th position.

What time does the Winter Olympics opening ceremony start?

Because of the time zone that the Winter Olympics takes place in this year, prepare for many early mornings if you want to watch the games and the opening ceremony live.

NBC will air live coverage of the opening ceremony from 6:30 a.m. ET. It will then re-air on tape delay during prime time at 8 p.m. on Friday.