Milan: South Korea will be the 22nd nation to march into the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics here in northern Italy. The organizing committee of the Milan-Cortina Olympics unveiled the order of the parade of nations for the opening ceremony scheduled for the next day at Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium. By tradition, Greece will enter first as the home of the modern Olympic Games, while the host nation Italy will be last.

According to Yonhap News Agency, France, the host of the next Winter Games in 2030, will be the penultimate nation to enter, and all the other countries in between will join the parade in the order of the host country's language. The official full name of South Korea in Italian is "Repubblica di Corea," though it will go by "Corea" for the ceremony. The country will come right after Colombia and before Croatia.

South Korea will have 71 athletes competing in six sports and has set out to bring home at least three gold medals, one more than its total from the previous Winter Games in Beijing in 2022. Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan and speed skater Park Ji-woo will serve as co-flag bearers for South Korea.

Cha expressed his gratitude and excitement, saying, "It's such a huge honor. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this." This will be Cha's third Olympics, but he noted he didn't get to attend the opening ceremonies at his first two Winter Games. "I want to feed off the positive energy of the opening ceremony," Cha added.

Preliminary action in the mixed doubles curling got underway Wednesday, with more curling matches and figure skating's team event scheduled for Friday before the opening ceremony. The first Winter Olympics in Italy in 20 years will conclude on February 22.