Each flag bearer will have been chosen either by the team's National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves. For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality.[1] These Olympics were postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of athletes who paraded at this opening ceremony was much smaller than normal, which is also due to the new "2-week, 2-wave" system which is first used at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, in which the athletes that competed at the first week paraded at the opening ceremony, and the athletes that compete at the second week paraded at the closing ceremony.[citation needed]