Talk:Great Britain at the Olympics/Archive 1

Incomplete
A lot of the sports stop at 1908, the extra years need to be added for anyone who has time... Paulbrock 23:40, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Name
I still don't understand why the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competes in the Olympics under the name of Great Britain. The Kingdom of Great Britain has not existed since 1801, so even when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first competed in the Olympics the name was incorrect. It would be accurate for UK athletes to compete as United Kingdom or UK. This is just as easy to abbreviate as GB and would not perpetuate the error of thinking that Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain. Don't athletes from Northern Ireland (who would tend to be Unionists?) object to being told that their country doesn't exist, or is part of the island next door?--Oxonian2006 (talk) 14:21, 23 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I think it's because historically there wasn't consistency on which bit of "United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland" got used for the short form. Note that "Great Britain" is also used for things like the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code GB, though the domain is .uk due to the government getting a special exception to the standard rule. Timrollpickering (talk) 11:57, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Uh, we don't compete under the name 'Great Britain'. The official name is 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland', as it has been since 1928.  In 1924 and before, it was 'Great Britain and Ireland'. Bastin 15:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The UK does compete under GB. As timroll says its likely down to there been no consistancy over names, 'Great Britain' meant the same as Britain (as in the short form for the country, not the island) only cooler sounding in the past.--130.243.155.59 (talk) 18:15, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

NI athletes and ROI team
It's stupid and misleading to say that "athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Olympics instead of the Great Britain team", because it gives the impression that the Ireland team is an all-Ireland team. Important to be clear that it is an ROI team and hence say "can elect to represent the Republic of Ireland team". Mooretwin (talk) 22:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * My opinion on this is that your point of view is just that. Its a POV and shouln't be included in an article as its not 100% correct. Ireland is the name of the team and the country so that should not be ignored for a hypothetical debate. Great Britain is the name of the team for the UK, yet you don't see that name being changed. Facts are facts and they should be refelcted correctly on an encyclopedia.213.202.189.10 (talk) 23:02, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It's not a POV. It is factually correct that the team only represents the Republic. The name - like that of the GB team - is a misnomer and hence the need for clarity. You will see from the opening sentence of this article, contrary to what you imply, that GB team is described as representing the UK. Mooretwin (talk) 23:07, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Its POV to try and change the name of the country and the team for you personal views. I don't see any confusion in the team name in the real world. The olympics is a competition for the sovereign states of the world not islands. If you can verify that there is confusion that the Ireland team represents the whole island and that the GB only competes for GB then thats fine. (I never said team GB didn't represent the UK as per your above post). Otherwise the official name should be used as this is the real world, we don't have the right to change it for our POV.213.202.189.10 (talk) 23:13, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm trying to change neither the name of the country nor the team: merely to clarify that the team known as "Ireland" is actually the ROI team. (An earlier edit used the name "Ireland", but clarified that it only represented the Republic - this, however, was edited as being too clumsy.) There is plenty of confusion in the real world - indeed, some editors on Wikipedia have tried to argue that it is an all-Ireland team.  What's the problem with saying Republic of Ireland - it makes the status of the team clear. Mooretwin (talk) 23:18, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It misleadingly suggests the name of the team and the country is ROI. Everytime I watched the Olympics, it was Ireland who were announced as competing. To say that can represent the ROI is wrong as it is Ireland they can choose to represent. Why are you trying to clarify it on the GB Olympics page? It seems like a POV, its clarified who it represents on the page when you click the link.213.202.189.10 (talk) 23:25, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It is the name "Ireland" that is misleading, as it gives the impression of being a team that represents Ireland, rather than merely the Republic. As you say, the team in the media is referred to as "Ireland", and so many people will believe the team represents the whole island. Hence it is important to clarify in this article. The reason it needs to be clarified on this page is because we cannot assume that readers will click the link to the "Ireland at the Olympics" page. Mooretwin (talk) 23:34, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * If YOU think the name is misleading then that is your issue. The name is substanstiated in real life by all bodies and no issue has ever been raised over the name other here on Wikipedia. All your claims have no basis and no verification and is all your personal POV unfortunately.213.202.189.10 (talk) 23:37, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * It's simply not possible for you to know whether Wikipedia is only place the issue has ever been raised. There is no POV involved: it is incontrovertible and verifiable fact that the "Ireland" team does not represent all of Ireland, but merely the Republic. Hence the need to disambiguate in an article referring to Northern Ireland (that part of Ireland not represented by the team known as Ireland!). I can't see what the problem is in providing clarity to readers. Mooretwin (talk) 23:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * For the last time it is misleading! That is not the name. The Ireland olympic team represent the state called Ireland! It is quite simple. You are trying to change the name. If you can WP:VERIFY what you are saying about the confusion then fine. I know I can verify that the team that is called Ireland represents the state called Ireland. Why is this so called confusion even an issue for the GB page? What has it got to do with it? You don't see the GB team and UK in brackets on the Ireland page do you? The issue that it doesn't represent the whole island at the olympics is raised on the Ireland page. Specifics are left for the specific page. Changing the name is not right. It is without reason is not justifiable.213.202.189.10 (talk) 23:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


 * How can it be misleading to clarify that the team represents the Republic?!! As for why it's confusing ... well, because the state called "Ireland" doesn't include all of Ireland: only part of it! And I've edited the "Ireland at the Olympics" page to clarify that the GB team actually represents the UK. Mooretwin (talk) 07:06, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * The name is accepted fact. Stop trying to change it! Same applies to the GB team. It is called team GB. The name is expalined on its own article page. Your POV editing has no real life backing to it.IP213.202.189.10 (talk) 09:06, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * No-one's disputing what the name is! The problem is that the name is a misnomer and doesn't make clear that the state/team relates only to part of Ireland. In respect of the UK, the opposite is true - the team relates to all of the UK, yet the name relates only to part of it. Hence clarificiation is needed.  The POV editing appears to be on your part - seeking to censor the fact that the "Ireland" Olympic team is not actually an all-Ireland team. I'm not clear on your motiviations for this. Mooretwin (talk) 11:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Interesting topic. The Olympics initially did mix me up - I once thought it was an Island of Ireland team. GoodDay (talk) 20:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * But would you agree GoodDay that the clarification of what it is, is for the actual article and not for everyplace that the link appears? What Mooretwin is suggesting doesn't occur in real life in the media or the internet, so while I agree its a valid point to make (on its respective page), changing the team name is not the thing to do. Agree/Disagree?IP213.202.189.10 (talk) 20:21, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't change the 'team' name (just like I wouldn't change Team GB's nam to Team UK). But, a clarification would certainly help, it wouldn't hurt. GoodDay (talk) 20:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * How would you suggest we do it then?IP213.202.189.10 (talk) 21:10, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I haven't given it that much thought. GoodDay (talk) 21:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok. My suggestion to clarify that its not an all-island team is this:
 * Under the terms of a long-standing settlement between the British Olympic Association and the Olympic Council of Ireland, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Olympics instead of representing the United Kingdom.
 * By removing team GB and inserting UK, we take team names out of it and use country names. That way it is clear that NI is not excluded and that Ireland doesn't represent the whole island. Any comments?IP213.202.189.10 (talk) 21:53, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 'Republic of Ireland' will have to some how be inserted (IMO); but it won't be easy. GoodDay (talk) 22:07, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * IMO I would disagree, having watched the Olympics on both the BBC and RTÉ I can safely say the term 'ROI' was not used. Wikipedia seems to be fanscinated with the term ROI and while its use is fine in some articles using it on a sporting page like this seems a bit POV (all in IMO of course).IP213.202.189.10 (talk) 22:37, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I just thought less familiar readers would be confused, that's all. GoodDay (talk) 22:43, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Suggested wording

 * Under the terms of a long-standing settlement between the British Olympic Association and the Olympic Council of Ireland, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Olympics, despite it being a different country. Athletes in sports organised on an all-Ireland basis such as boxing tend to represent the Republic of Ireland whereas those in sports organised on an UK basis such as athletics tend to represent Great Britain.

I think that clears everything up while using ROI and highlighting the fact its not all-Ireland, aswell as keeping the accuracy of the team names. Any comments?ThatsGrand (talk) 15:45, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Cool. GoodDay (talk) 20:57, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * That's great. I suppose we better wait for Mooretwin to be unbanned before declaring this as consensus though.ThatsGrand (talk) 21:16, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * We shall see. GoodDay (talk) 21:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)


 * My first reaction is amusement. I would suspect that those who get prickly at the "offensive" name "Republic of Ireland", might equally be "offended" at the horrific suggestion that the Republic is a different country to Northern Ireland! Nonetheless, the wording is preferable to the current wording, but I still don't see why we can't state expressly that the "Ireland" Olympics team represents the Republic. Mooretwin (talk) 12:49, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Glad you find it ok. Offense has nothing to do with any of this, its being accurate and the above is that. I'll contact the admin to unblock the page now.ThatsGrand (talk) 12:51, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * i have had the page unblocked and made the change discussed above. Basement12 (T.C) 01:37, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

I hate to use the "i dont like it" line, but the wording regarding the Ireland option just makes me cringe- "despite it being a different country" :/ doesn't really reflect the whole political context which precedes that decision does it, Belfast agreement and self determination and all that. It would probably sound better to mention the whole dual citizenship thing, where people from the North are legally entitled to Irish citizenship. --193.61.159.26 (talk) 10:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I think it's definitely a change for the better! Sillyfolkboy (talk) (edits) 15:30, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 14:53, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

False reference
User:Jza84 introduced a reference that he or she claimed verified the statement that 'Great Britain is the name used by the United Kingdom at the Olympic Games'. The reference was given as page 282 of the Britain 2001 Yearbook (referenced under an incorrect name for reasons I cannot fathom), which makes no such statement, or anything even resembling it (it makes casual reference to there being a Great Britain team, but also to there being a UK team - and no reference to the naming of it, as you would assume of a book whose title eschews the official name).

I will refer everyone once more to the reply I have received from the British Olympic Association on the subject, which states that the official name is 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Note that I am not using that as a reference to close this discussion, as it is not a verifiable reference from a reliable source. However, it is an indicator of the actuality, and raises the bar that people have to overcome to prove that they are right when they contradict it. That is: casual references are not sufficient; only statements along the lines of "The official name of the Olympic team is 'Great Britain'" (as part of a discussion of the name will suffice. Until then, it is to have fact succeeding it, and not a spurious reference. Bastin 12:22, 26 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I've restored it, but also added to it. If one takes a look at page 286 it says:


 * On page 282 it calls the British Olympic team as:


 * As one can see, the reference says that the team that goes to the Olympic games represents the United Kingdom. If we want to use the word "represents" rather than "is the name of the team used by", then sure that's fine, but it is verifiable, and should not be spun otherwise and removed mindlessly, because a fundamental threshold for inclusion has been met.


 * Re fathoming the name of the source, the details I have reflect those on/in the book (I didn't know it was online). The details of the title etc are here. --Jza84 | Talk  17:28, 3 June 2009 (UTC)


 * -- Actually, I've just read the discussion (I didn't realise this was such an issue and just added the reference without knowledge of the debate), and I now understand the gripe. I thought the issue was that the "Great Britain" team only represented Great Britain (which would be odd), but I now see the gripe is about "GB and Ireland" vs "GB", rather than who it represents.


 * Still, the source doesn't seem to mention "and Northern Ireland", and I object to being accused of adding "false references" with made-up titles in bad faith. Surely something like:


 * "The Olympic team representing the United Kingdom, variously called Team GB, Great Britain and Great Britain and Ireland, has competed since...."


 * ... would suffice as a more befitting interim solution until the BOA publishes the official name? Has anybody asked them to publish the official name on their website, or asked them where it is published? --Jza84 | Talk  17:49, 3 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, I have contacted them by email requesting a clarification on their website. They declined to do so (as far as I know), but I published their email reply at Talk:Great Britain at the 2006 Winter Olympics (linked above).  We have a statement from the BOA that it is called GB&NI.  Therefore, we know that 'Great Britain' is not the name.
 * My suggestion, therefore, is that people stop wasting their lives trying to find references that validate their position (which is proven to be false), and instead spend their time persuading the BOA to mention it somewhere on their website. The only problem is that the people that have spread like a plague on this issue aren't interested in improving Wikipedia... Bastin 01:16, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Actually, I will scratch that. It seems that they have changed this page to make it quite unequivocal.  I will ask them once more to make an explicit statement on the official name, but is clearly sufficient to verify it. Bastin 01:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Who does Team GB represent?
The current (11 June 2009) opening sentence reads:

"Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the name under which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competes at the Olympic Games."

How does that stack up against a response received by an Editor previously: '' I received a response from the BOA today. BRITISH OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION - TEAM GB The team that the British Olympic Association sends to Olympic Games is the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team - known as Team GB. As such the BOA represents Great Britain (England, Wales & Scotland), Northern Ireland, crown dependent territories (including the Isle of Man) and certain British overseas territories to promote the Olympic Movement in the United Kingdom (i.e. inclusive of N Ireland). The anthem that is played at medal ceremonies is the National Anthem of the United Kingdom (i.e. GB & NI) - this is "God Save the Queen". The British Olympic Association is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a National Olympic Committee (NOC). The Olympic Charters states that only independent states recognised by the international community can be recognised by the IOC as NOCs. As such, any athlete reaching the necessary selection standards from Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and any British overseas independent territory which presently doesn’t have its own NOC (some do, some don’t) would be eligible to compete as members of Team GB (subsequent to them possessing a relevant passport). - Bastin8 00:10, 4 March 2006 (UTC)''

The point here is that the opening sentence may not be accurate if "Team GB" is a Team represenging (1) the UK and (2) the other territories (e.g. Channel Islands etc) mentioned above. Any views based on sound sources that might clear this up. Otherwise, the opening sentence may need to change. Regards. Redking7 (talk) 20:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I believe some clarification is required, and I will seek some from the BOA as a guide. Under the Olympic Charter, the jurisdiction of an NOC must be identical to the jurisdiction of the country (Art. 29(5)).  Thus, I'm pretty sure (without having seen any reliable sources on the matter) that it strictly 'represents' the United Kingdom.  Nonetheless, I obviously would not act upon this without being able to illustrate this.
 * That notwithstanding, there are obviously representatives of the Crown Dependencies (Mark Cavendish, Dale Garland, etc) and the British Overseas Territories that do not otherwise have independent teams (erm... Louis Baillon?). That conflates the issue, and deserves reference in the introduction, if not the first paragraph of the introduction, even if the team does not officially 'represent' them. Bastin 22:22, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Requested move ( 13 February 2010 )

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Page moved. Ucucha 00:41, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Great Britain at the Olympics → — The name of the team has been confirmed by the reference given in the article. The article was renamed |unilaterally and without discussion from 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Summer Olympics' to 'Great Britain at the Olympics' under the false guise of WP:OLY, which justified only renaming the article to 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympics'. Hence, it should be renamed to 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympics'. Bastin 04:36, 13 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Oppose according to the IOC it is "Great Britain" - 70.29.210.242 (talk) 10:26, 14 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't think that was a deliberate omission, but borne of shorthand. They also wrote that the mail address is 'Great Britain', not 'United Kingdom', so that page clearly isn't too fussed about terminology. Bastin 12:31, 14 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Support. If the name changed, and you can provide one ADDITIONAL source that it did (please?)...then sure, it should move. Rennell435 (talk) 13:36, 15 February 2010 (UTC)


 * It hasn't changed recently; it has been Great Britain and Northern Ireland for... well, since 1928, and has never been 'Great Britain'. That said, the BOA started being more assertive about it back in 2004, when they reviewed the agreement they had with the OCI over athletes from Northern Ireland.  The previous user simply moved it unilaterally, despite the discussions above, and it needs to be moved back.  The abbreviation of the name to 'Great Britain' has become a political issue, and the BOA itself clarifies this in its FAQ.
 * As shown above, when asked the question, not only did they reply stating that it was 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland', but they then put it on their site to prevent any further confusion. Since 'Great Britain' is shorter and 'United Kingdom' is the name of the country, there is absolutely no reason to call it 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland' unless it were the actual name of the team: as they explicitly state themselves.  Indeed, even on Twitter, where space comes at a premium, they include the 'Northern Ireland'! Bastin 14:27, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.


 * The move is incorrect. The initial move, made 2 1/2 years ago by WP:OLY, was correct as the IOC, the body that organises and runs the Games, recognise the team simply as GB not as GB & NI. I have raised the issue at WP:OLY, something that should have been done before any move was made. Basement12 (T.C) 09:53, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
 * This link, to the IOCs website, should prove my point quite conclusively. Basement12 (T.C) 09:57, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * That was brought up above. Note that they give the address as 'Great Britain', which is wrong.  Since the author of the page thinks that the name of the country is 'Great Britain', it is understandable that they also make the mistake in thinking the name of the team is as well. Bastin 12:55, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Regardless of what you or other uses think/believe the team name is/should be the IOC designate the team as Great Britain not Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The "author of the page" must have been making the same mistake ever since 1908 when the name was first used. Whether they are correct to do so is an issue to take up with them not the articles on wikipedia. Basement12 (T.C) 14:56, 22 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I'll also draw your attention to Talk:Great_Britain_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics both the arguments made and the result of the discussion. Also here, here, here and here. Additionally if this article is moved why have all the other articles in Category:Great Britain at the Olympics not been moved? If you're going to make an an argument at least keep consistency throughtout all other articles. Basement12 (T.C) 15:49, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Duh in an edit summary? That's very helpful. It would be nice if instead of simply reverting you attempted to provide some kind of rationale for your edits other than the one source you seem to be clinging to despite it being ambigous at best. These olympic articles are about the Olympic team not the country they represent. Take a look at any Olympic coverage and you will see that British athletes wear clothing that refers to this team as Great Britain. TV captions refer to the team as Great Britain. All IOC webites refer to the team as Great Britain. All official Olympic reports refer to the team as Great Britain. All other wikipedia Olympic articles list the team simply as Great Britain. I'm really not sure how you can justify the use of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the title and lead of this article. Basement12 (T.C) 21:33, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * You stated that the source didn't say 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland', and you're editing it without discussion despite the move having been agreed above; I think that counts as a 'duh' moment to me. One source?  I cited several sources above and in previous discussions.  TV captions and team jerseys need to be short (like Twitter), as brought up in the discussion in 2006; the fact that 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland' is ever used when space comes at a premium is far more interesting than 'Great Britain', which is... err... shorter.
 * You'll also note that 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland' is not the name of the country; that is the United Kingdom - which is also shorter - and if they were simply stating the name of the country, they would have written that instead of 'Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. As said already, the fact that the IOC webpage states that the country (for the postal address) is called 'Great Britain' (which is incorrect) somewhat invalidates its claim that the team is called 'Great Britain'.  Simple.  'Great Britain and Northern Ireland' is not a name that is easy to display by error or out of shortname.  It is a name that is completely illogical to use except if it were the real name.  And that's why the BOA, Northern Ireland Executive, Parliament, British Curling Association, etc etc. Bastin 23:07, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Agreement by one of the two people who commented, neither of whom appear to have a great deal of experience dealing with Olympic articles should not have been counted as a consensus for a move in the first place. Nor was any request for input from WP:OLY made. Yes the address on that one page isn't correct, but are you suggesting that every IOC document for over 100 years has used Great Britain because of typos and/or laziness? That the words "and Northern Ireland" wouldn't squeeze onto a TV screen? So where is Great Britain and Northern Ireland displayed? Twitter, apart from being a ridiculous source to cite the name on there is Team GB (I'm almmost certain the GB stands for Great Britain), yes it goes on to say that it is the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic team but could that not be because they left off the "United Kingdom of" part off? The Northern Ireland Executive article is calling for the addition of Northern Ireland to the name, it incorrectly states that the name is currently shortened, as you point out yourself "Great Britain and Northern Ireland' is not the name of the country" so why is that anymore likely to be the name of the team, particularly when virtually every source going doesn't use it? If nothing else WP:COMMONNAME applies. Basement12 (T.C) 23:36, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Comment doesn't WP:OLY subscribe to WP:Article alerts? If so, it should have been listed in the activity page. 70.29.210.242 (talk) 09:39, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Requested move
move back to Great Britain at the Olympics. --RegentsPark (talk) 23:19, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympics → Great Britain at the Olympics — The last move was completed without input from members of WP:OLY and with no notice taken of a multitude of previous discussions on this subject, to list just a few examples 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 as well as official Olympic sources such as the official reports downloadable here. The discussion arrises during every Games and the result has always been for the common usage of Great Britain to be used. Basement12 (T.C) 00:37, 23 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Support - per Basement12. --Mais oui! (talk) 09:50, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Support - I have to agree. It does seam to be the accepted standard. If the official wiki page on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is actually the United Kingdom then Great Britain at the Olympics would suffice also. Is there some official statement from Team GB that I am unaware of? -- Phoenix (talk) 10:31, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Support - per Basement12 and all other previous discussions supporting this article name. Yboy83 (talk) 14:49, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Support return to previous consensus name. (Recent move request should have been "no consensus".)  The biggest problem with the current name is that this article contains the complete Olympic history of the GBR team, including the period (1896–1920) in which the GBR team represented the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, so having Northern Ireland in the name is simply incorrect and misleading.  Also, WP:COMMONNAME most certainly applies here.  All current media sources use simply "Great Britain", including the official site and the BBC. This is also historically true; if you look at the past official reports from each Games organising committee (digitized as PDF files and available for download from http://www.la84foundation.org/5va/reports_frmst.htm) you'll see that "Great Britain" was used for almost every Games since 1896.  The only exceptions I can think of off the top of my head were 1908 London (ironically) which used "United Kingdom" and 1956 Melbourne, which was the only Games report to use "Great Britain and Northern Ireland".  — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 17:06, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Why GB and not UK?
I see all the discussion above, and in the article, about what the official name of the team is... but what I do not see is any explanation of why the Olympic team is officially called "Great Britain and Northern Island," aka "Team GB", or just GBR, rather than being called "United Kingdom", with the abbreviation UK. If there's any good citeable answer for this, I think it would be good to include in the article. Cheers! LordAmeth (talk) 23:01, 1 August 2012 (UTC)
 * It's probably because the ISO country codes for the United Kingdom are GB and GBR, so "GB" and "GBR" actually mean "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland", not simply "Great Britain", despite what you might think. BabelStone (talk) 23:11, 1 August 2012 (UTC)
 * See also Talk:Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics for more discussion on the name (which is less than clear). -- Jonel (Speak to me) 01:06, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
 * The London 2012 website continues to refer to "Great Britain". The BBC website also did so for the first few days of the Games but, interestingly, has now changed the listing in its medal table to read "Great Britain and N. Ireland"- see http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/countriesHeadhitter (talk) 08:24, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Table - Medals by summer sport
The totals in the columns for bronze medals and total medals are incorrect. The total for bronze medals should be 268 and for total medals 773. This would also then tally with the figures in the earlier table 'Medal tables by games' after deducting the ice skating medals won at the 1908 and 1920 summer games.

85.255.232.230 (talk) 09:56, 27 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is available for anyone to edit, why don't you do it yourself? 97rob (talk) 17:05, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

British vs. English, Scottish, Welsh, etc.
Seeking advice here: Talk:Sport in the United Kingdom. Your input is requested. Thank you! Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 20:25, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

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