Why Team GB?
I’m afraid that I have very little interest in sport, but even I could not fail to be impressed by the spectacular opening ceremony in Beijing and the outstanding success of the British athletes over the weekend.
Buy why are our Olympic competitors called Team GB? Do we have no athletes from Northern Ireland? Are the initials a reference to our Prime Minister? I’m sure that one of NightHawk’s many readers can shed light on this for us.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Well, Team GB is actually Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Athletes from Northern Ireland may however opt to represent the Republic of Ireland, rather than be in team GBR if they wish. The “GBR” abbreviation was chosen by the International Olympic Committee for the 1908 games. Does that help?
August 18th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
It turns out that of the 311 athletes who are members of Team GB, 26 come from Scotland, 14 from Wales, 268 from England and only 3 from Northern Ireland. So the team is statistically speaking more than 99% GB.
But if I were Northern Irish, I’d ask the same question you’re asking.
Furthermore — and I guessed this was the case — Northern Irish athletes “who also hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution can be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympics” according to the Wikipedia.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Today the “Guardian” has a feature on the Olympics which explains the “Team” bit but does not the “GB” part:
Why are we called “Team GB”?
Mainly because it is considerably easier on the tongue than “the Great Britain Olympics Team”, according to the woman behind the brand, Marzena Bogdanowicz. “I think I had the idea in 1996 or 1997,” says the BOA’s then director of marketing. “I went to the games in 1996 and the logo at the time was just the lion and the rings, but we weren’t strong enough as a brand to just be a lion and the rings. So coming back I wanted to find something that was less of a mouthful, and also had that team feel. We looked at the options and came up with Team GB.” The result didn’t just look good on T-shirts, it also inspires Britain’s best. “Come Sydney 2000 we had Team GB everywhere,” Bogdanowicz says. “When the athletes arrived, they saw that and they knew they were part of a bigger team, not just a group of athletes or swimmers. That had a positive effect on everyone.” The statistics back her up: in the last games before she got to work we won one gold medal. So far in Beijing we have won 12.
SB
August 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Why not “Team UK”?? That trips off the tongue almost as easily, and has the merit of being accurate.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
GB and UK are interchangeable. i.e. GB no longer means Great Britain only, it means the same as UK. i.e. GB means Great Britain and Northern Island.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Really? That’s news to me. So when did this happen and who decided it? And do the people of Northern Ireland agree?
August 31st, 2008 at 7:18 am
I do not believe this