At the 1928 9th Amsterdam Olympic Games, for the first time in the Olympic history, athletes were required to march into the Olympic stadium in a pre-ordained order.

Even though there was a similar ceremony at the 8th Olympic Games in Paris, the order for athletes had not yet been clarified, which triggered fighting among some delegations.

The Paris Olympic committee thus arranged for the Greeks to come in first and the host country last. Other countries and regions were to enter into the arena in alphabetic order according to the language of the host country, and later according to the Roman alphabet. These conventions successfully solved the conflict and are still used today.