National Anthems

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.

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