Aussies down pecking order at Olympics ceremony

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — Australia will be one of the last countries to enter the Olympic stadium at the opening ceremony because the use of Chinese characters has scrambled the traditional order, the team's chief said Tuesday.

"It has been confirmed that we will be nation number 203 in for the opening ceremony, followed just by Zambia and China," John Coates, head of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), told reporters in Beijing.

"So we will be at the tail and not at the front," he said.

Australia is used to being one of the first teams to enter the stadium at Olympic opening ceremonies, as the order is normally determined by the Roman alphabet.

However, Coates said that Australia's position would this time be determined by the number of strokes in the...