Olympics Opening Ceremonies 2018: Guide to Parade of Nations and Torch Lighting

The 2018 Winter Olympics will officially kick off at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in South Korea on Friday with the opening ceremony.

As ever, one of the key events will be the lighting of the Olympic flame, which will mark the culmination of the 101-day torch relay that has seen the Olympic symbol travel the length and breadth of South Korea following its arrival from Greece.

See below for the route the Olympic torch took before arriving in Pyeongchang:

The identity of the final torch-bearer, who will ignite the flame at the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony, is a closely guarded secret.

Figure skater Irina Rodnina and ice hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak were given the honour of igniting the Olympic cauldron at the most recent Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

The flame's arrival at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium will, for many, officially mark the start of the 2018 Games despite the fact competition started—in curling and ski jumping—on Thursday.

The parade of athletes is another of the key traditional events at Olympic opening ceremonies.

Bearing the flags of their respective nations, the 92 teams will enter the Olympic Stadium in traditional order, with Greece entering first as the representatives of the origins of the Olympics and host nation South Korea, together with North Korea under a unified flag, entering last.

All other teams will enter alphabetically, according to the language of the host country, so Ghana will be the second nation into the stadium, while the United States will be 26th and Great Britain will enter 52nd.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the 2018 opening ceremony will be similar to the one from four years ago.

The parade of nations will follow the head of state's entry and the playing of the Korean national anthem. The Olympic torch will be lit before the ceremony's artistic programme.

Per Jane Chung of Reuters, the festivities are "expected to intertwine Korean history and tradition with aspects of modern culture, such as K-Pop." Organisers have said the ceremony will "highlight a key message of peace."