Team GB?

[factor-fiction]

I still don't understand why the team is called Great Britain (as written on all shirts) and the national anthem is described as the national anthem of Great Britain when the team includes athletes etc from Northern Ireland. Shouldn't we be Team UK?

[Baldric]

There's a bit in this link about the team name;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19047586

[Baldric]

^^^^ you need to scroll down a bit ^^^^

[ichkeria]

It certainly should be Team UK. That isn't entirely correct either but it would be closer than Team GB. And just as 'snappy'. Anyway I've stopped worrying about it for now...

[emmie]

I don't care quite honestly, they just won another Gold, so whooppee for the team,

[Old_Geezer]

Bound to cause ill feeling. Should be renamed, "England and favoured allies". That should cover it.

[zebo]

I think you'll find that the IOC called us GBR, all teams have a 3 letter "name" and Ukraine are UKR, though why we can't be UKG or something I don't know. Team GB is the popular name, or even unpopular, name used by the media, fans etc. Other nationalities get very confused by UK and GB, not to mention the British Isles. I'm assuming that everyone knows that we have the longest name in the UN list of countries?

[Duncer]

New Judge, I am,as you guessed, a tad peeved at this exclusion, as I'm sure Mary Peter is, not to mention the rowers who contributed to our medals tally.

[coccinelle]

'Other nationalities get very confused by UK and GB'

they do indeed, I'm sitting through commentators refering to any GB contestant as 'Anglais' even Murray who they know fine well is a scot is still considered here as 'Anglais'.

[factor-fiction]

It is very confusing and it's not surprising overseas commentators get it wrong.

I think at least half the people in the UK/GB/British Isles couldn't explain the difference between these different entities. I'm not sure myself for example where Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Channnel Isles fit in

I notice that USA are also referred to as The Americans which I don't think is quite right.

[coccinelle]

Well, just to add to the confusion the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and other islands around GB are part of the British Isles...

[factor-fiction]

^.... and if I remember correctly Eire is part of the British Isles but not part of UK or Great Britain.

[FredPuli43]

Don't confuse us even further, coccinelle; Bretagne, without the Grande, is part of France !

[murraymints]

when I used to write the parchments...I was the royal scribe in Scotland..fancy parchments and Great Seal of Scotland....the term used was..Great Britain, Northern Ireland and other Realms and Territories.....

[dotty.]

it reads 'team gb' on their shirts though. does it say the word 'Team' on all the competitors shirts and then the name of the country they represent? I'm watching it but can't see an example.

[coccinelle]

FredPuli; that's another story...

[New Judge]

This may help with some of your problems, factor:

The Isle of Man together with the Bailiwicks (so called since they were historically presided over by a Bailiff) of Guernsey and Jersey form the three Crown Dependencies. These do not form part of the UK or of the EU. The Bailiwick of Guernsey also includes the smaller islands of Alderney, Sark and Herm as well as a handful of smaller islands.

Gibralter is one of fourteen British Overseas Territories. Included among the more famous of these are the Falkland Islands and Bermuda.

Of course overseas commentators cannot be expected to have a decent knowledge of all this. But you would think that the people running UK sporting activities at international level might.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks New Judge.
So Isle of Man (IOM) is not part of the UK or GB? Yet some members of team GB are from IOM. Is IOM part of the British Isles though?

[New Judge]

Correct, factor. Great Britain is the large island in which England, Scotland and Wales are situated. The British Isles is a geographical term for the two main islands (Great Britain and Ireland in its entirety) and about 5,000 smaller islands including the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and many far smaller islands.

Two sovereign nations occupy the British Isles - the United Kingdom and Ireland (the "South"). The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man form the three Crown Dependencies (as outlined in my earlier answer). They are part of the British Isles, but not of GB or the UK.

Great Britain is not a sovereign nation nor, strictly speaking, is it a geographical entitlty. I don't know the reason why IOM competitors take part for "Team GB"as they are neither part of Great Britain nor of the United Kingdom. I believe they do enter a team in their own right in the Commonwealth Games.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks again New Judge, and thank you to everyone else who contributed