National Anthems at the Olympic Games

National anthems are an important part of the Olympic Games.

• The winning team or athlete's national anthem was first played with the raising of the country flag at the 1924 Olympic Games
• According to Olympic rules, national anthems cannot be longer than 80 seconds in length, which means that some countries have had to create a shortened version of their anthem
• A nation may choose to have another anthem played instead of their national one if they so choose. There have been several examples of this.
• Even though they were a divided country, both West and East Germany participated as the United Team of Germany from 1956-1964. To avoid dispute between the countries, the anthem to be played was chosen to be Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 melody to Schiller's Ode an die Freude (the ode to joy).
• At the 1992 Games, the former Soviet republics competed in a united team known as the "Unified Team", with the song "Ode to Joy" played during their medal ceremonies.
• Taiwanese athletes receive their medals to the "Flag Raising Song", rather than the Chinese National Anthem.
• At the 1980 Games in Moscow, several non-Communist countries that were participating chose to have the Olympic Hymn played instead of their National Anthem.