Norn Iron and the Olympics...

garrynolan

Why is it just Team GB and not Team UK? Last time I checked it was the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland. Should N.I. have it's own team or is it a case of British if you win or Scottish/Welsh/N.Irish if you lose? Just wondering like...

dw300

garrynolan wrote:

Why is it just Team GB and not Team UK? Last time I checked it was the United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland. Should N.I. have it's own team or is it a case of British if you win or Scottish/Welsh/N.Irish if you lose? Just wondering like...

I think it's just down to the fact that there is no nationality United Kingdomish or being a United Kingdomer .. if you have a passport that says you're British then you're eligible to be part of Team GB. I think if you're Northern Irish with dual nationalities that you're ok too as long as you haven't represented the other team .. although they seem to get round this these days in football, eg. Darren Gibson.

Yellow Peril

If we have a UK team we lose out on the crucial 29th place in Saturday's Road Race and we will only have three riders in the men's Team Pursuit.

mattshrops

<hot potato>
Dont tell the prods but would you bet against a united Ireland fairly soon??(within 25 years?)
<hot potato>
Changes identity and grows beard


Just in case anyone is wondering- i have no religion but by birth would be considered a prod i suppose.

garrynolan

mattshrops wrote:

<hot potato>
Dont tell the prods but would you bet against a united Ireland fairly soon??(within 25 years?)
<hot potato>
Changes identity and grows beard


Just in case anyone is wondering- i have no religion but by birth would be considered a prod i suppose.

HAHA! I'm a prod so I'd better change my picture... I'd say you're safe as we don't know where you are.

Seriously though - why not team GBNI or Team UK? Why would Team UK make a difference to the numbers in cycling?

seanorawe

Im on the other side of the fence or what some would call a 'taig' but if you saw me you would know that by how far apart my eyes are

Anyway, I thought Team GB did include welsh, scottish and NI?

There is also an irish team with NI'ers on it.

t.m.h.n.e.t

seanorawe wrote:

Im on the other side of the fence or what some would call a 'taig' but if you saw me you would know that by how far apart my eyes are

Anyway, I thought Team GB did include welsh, scottish and NI?

There is also an irish team with NI'ers on it.

Largely funding and qualification reasons. NI athletes compete with mainland athletes for elite status and qualification but the likes of Eileen Morrison and Gavin Noble qualified through the Irish federation in triathlon.

If any of us were athletes we'd have a choice at least!

dw300

If you watch a lot of coverage they do refer to it as Team GB & NI, especially when showing an NI athlete, eg. the rower guy from Coleraine whos name i cant remember. So it sounds like it's just a brevity thing.

Would I be right in saying that our (NI) rubgy and cricket players represent Ireland? So in sport it seems to come down to whether there is in fact an NI governing body for each particular sport, and if not, then players usually go with whichever governing bodies have the best teams and funding.

garrynolan

seanorawe wrote:

Im on the other side of the fence or what some would call a 'taig' but if you saw me you would know that by how far apart my eyes are

Anyway, I thought Team GB did include welsh, scottish and NI?

There is also an irish team with NI'ers on it.

Yeah, GB does include Scots and Welsh with the odd Englishman/woman thrown in(!) but not NI. That's my point - the UK is Great Britain AND Northern Ireland... so can anyone give a definitive answer to my original question - why not Team GB&NI or Team UK?
As for the Norn Ironers on the Ireland team - their choice and fair play to them - no problem with that, though some only do it to get a better chance to make the Olympics...(ducks for cover!).

GeorgeShaw

Isn't it historical? NI athletes can choose to represent GB or Ireland?

Gizmodo

I don't pretend to be an expert, but ISO 3166, the Industry Standards Organisation list of country codes says that "GBR" is the country code for the UK. I noticed on some helmets the other day they had GBR on them.