Explaining the Parade of Nations order at the Tokyo Olympics' Opening Ceremony

Athletes from 205 countries participating in the Olympics — fewer than there would be if not for the pandemic — paraded at the Opening Ceremony to officially kick off the Tokyo Games on Friday night local time.

But for English speakers tuning in expecting a predictable alphabetical order, this particular procession of nations seemed incongruous. The explanation, of course, has to do with the host country — along with a few other factors.

For inventing the Olympics thousands of years ago and for hosting the first modern Games in 1896, Greece gets the honor of going first in every Opening Ceremony. Just behind their contingent were all 29 members of the Refugee Team, which first appeared at the 2016 Rio Games, marching under the Olympic flag.

From there, the order runs alphabetically by country name — in Japanese. Which means that Ireland will come before Armenia, Qatar before Canada, and when you see Zambia, there’s still over 100 countries to go. (Also: Although they can't call themselves "Russia" as part of sanctions for their state-sponsored doping program, Russia marches 77th overall as "Russian Olympic Committee.")

The final three delegations will reflect the host countries of present and future Olympics. Japan marches last, an opportunity for an ovation that won’t come from fans that couldn’t be there. The penultimate team is France, the host of next summer Olympics in Paris in 2024. And just before that, the third to last country is the United States, honoring their current athletes as well as the upcoming Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Here is the full order:

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