...to think Team GB should be called Team UK...

[Meep123]

...struggling to find an explanation online and happy to be told why I am wrong (if I am)?

And a little bit drunk so appologies for any misunderstandings....still trying to figure out the whole NHS/exorcist/children's literature link...

The UK is diff to GB.

The latter includes extra islands I think.

The team presumably represents the latter.

I was slightly wrong.

GB = england, scotland, wales
UK = as above + N ireland

from here here

The United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland whereas GB is just Eng Scot and Wales

N.Ireland singing Danny Boy was in the opening ceremony so you are right - it should be Team UK!

(I could be wrong here but) I thought our team was made up of the UK, hence if we were team GB then Great Britain would have alphabetically come under G. Or does the hosting team come at the end and it's not completely alphabetical? And therefore we are actually team GB?

Thank you Hellsbells...exactly what I was thinking!

Not UK. Which is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Shouldn't really be GB either ...
It should actually be BI - the British Isles - as that includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (are there any others?)- they have people in our team.

We are Team GB and come last as we are the hosts. Good point about Danny Boy on the Giants Causeway

I understand the difference Haunted but I'm not sure Team GB do?

(Sceptical face at Team GB not you Haunted.)

we are team GB...but come at the end

Officially we are Great Britain and Northern Ireland,[1][2][3][4] usually abbreviated to Great Britain,[5] is the name under which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competes at the Olympic Games.

From the useful Wiki.

Tis the name we were given by the International Olympic Comitee in 1908 apparently so you are right and the IOC are wrong

From here

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain_at_the_Olympics

Team B.I ALL THE WAY!!

Ah ok that explains it!

Ah right so technically Team G.B & N.I

Team G.B,N.I/B.I Gah this shouldn't be this complicated??

It should be team UK. Similarly alot of "British" institutions should be UKish, except that UKish isn't a word. It does add unnecessary confusion.

OK sorry folks - overthinking & overdrunk here...let's just let the games commence....come on you, erm,...people of our lands...

Thanks all x

Apparently the official abbreviation of the United Kingdom is GB/GBR (and not just for the olympics)

That's so weird, Haunted, because as you so rightly stated above GB is different to UK - yet officially the abbreviation of the UK is GB/GBR. No wonder people in other countries get confused.

Well, looks like I've learnt something new. Well, I would've had I been able to understand all that.

I'm in NI and the whole Team GB thing really annoys me. Why pick a name that excludes such a large part of the country? It's no better than calling it Team England and expecting Scottish and Welsh athletes to take part in my view.

(For the record, I'm from the Republic of Ireland, so it's not even really my issue, but NI is very much my adopted homeland.)

My passport says I'm a British citizen, do NI passports say the same (yes I know you can have an Irish passport)

I'm Irish and I also think it should be UK and not GB. Aren't there athletes from NI? What about Mary Peters from so long ago?

I always thought UK was an abbreviation of 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'..

If it's the name given by the IOC in 1908 it is due an update as that was well before Irish in dependence so presumably the GB name back then would have included Ireland (the whole island) too.

And was that the Irish rugby team in the green jerseys in the rugby bits when they were singing Danny Boy? Or was I seeing and hearing things..

'It should actually be BI - the British Isles - as that includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (are there any others?)- they have people in our team.'

ehem, yes, Ireland, the island, part of which is a separate state, is one of the British Isles, so 'British Isles' is out.

sashh, as I understand it, those who have British nationality includes those from Britain (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales) as well as Northern Ireland and the islands (?) as well. So the term British as nationality doesn't exclude people from NI, but the description of the country as GB rather than the UK does.

I actually thought that when Team GB came out last night, the country name would say United Kingdom, not Great Britain and that Team GB was just a marketing thing as it sounds more pleasing than Team UK. Very disappointed to see I was wrong.

I agree Stokes. From Scotland myself so I am always sensitive to saying the correct term for all concerned (like not saying Holland but The Netherlands as Holland is only one part of The Netherlands).

It's that old adage that if Scotland wins it's a British win...if Scotland loses it's Scotland that has lost....actually, Scotland usually does lose...eek.