Expert: Albert Kirsch - 11/3/2009

Question
when other countries (Canada, Germany, Sweden) are at an equine competition in the United States how are the international flags presented in the arena? Alphabetical and then the US flag and when do international flags come into the arena? Before state flags and then the US. I am from Canada and I compete in the US and this is a conflict I have been faced with.

Answer
In the US it is customary to display our flag first and then all other national flags alphabetically. That's military and diplomatic protocol. At an equestrian competition sponsored by an international agency (like the IOC) it may differ: they'd have the order in French, for one thing, and may not fly the  US flag senior to the others. If state and provincial flags are also displayed they'd be junior to all national flags; I don't know how anyone has figured out how to display a mix of US states and Canadian provinces. Protocol manuals can't think of everything :-)   My guess is they'd be alphabetical (in French in Quebec, English otherwise, and I don't know about New Brunswick, which I think is officially bilingual.)

And let's not get into status and language in territories like Puerto Rico!

You mention "coming into the arena" as if there is a parade and not merely a display. Again, "proper" US protocol is ours first, then the rest of the national flags alphabetically, then the state/provincial flags, if any. And again, if it's IOC-sponsored, the parade might be different.

I competed in a fencing tournament in Denmark in 1989 and they solved the problem very simply: they flew only the Danish flag and the heck with everyone else. Nobody minded; there were too many countries represented and I don't think they had the budget for all that hoopla.