Should Team GB continue after London 2012?

[Platypuss]

I think that's down to the curious issue of the IOC insisting that there's a country out there called Ireland, and Northern Ireland is part of "Ireland".

There's no Republic of Ireland team in the Olympics. It's just Ireland, and that team officially covers Northern Ireland as well.

Quite why the IOC overrules sovereign states or even the UN on the definintion of countries is a mystery.

But Northern Ireland competitors compete for Great Britain don't they? Or do they basically have a choice?

I thought 'Ireland' was just ROI but lazily dropping the R and O.

Those from Northern Ireland can be in either team. The official name of the team is Ireland, all dating messily back to 1922 when Ireland joined the IOC.

The Great Britain team also includes overseas territories which aren't part of Great Britain, although how many athletes we ever take from the Falklands or Pitcairn Islands etc is a different question.

Mark Cavendish is 1 I can think of - the Isle of Man isn't part of the UK either.

[Royal Lady]

In answer to the OP - a resounding NO from me. Not only that, but if we insist on putting forth a GB team in future Olympics, we should pick players from lower and non-league - cos they might actually follow the ethos of Team GB - and want to win for US, not themselves as individuals - etc etc.

[Hoop Blah]

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Those from Northern Ireland can be in either team. The official name of the team is Ireland, all dating messily back to 1922 when Ireland joined the IOC.

The Great Britain team also includes overseas territories which aren't part of Great Britain, although how many athletes we ever take from the Falklands or Pitcairn Islands etc is a different question.

Oh ok. I had no idea that NI competitors had such a choice, just on geography not the individuals ancestry and/or citizenship right? Seems very odd.

Which NI competitors have turned out for Ireland over their 'rightful' GB?

[Royal With Cheese]

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Those from Northern Ireland can be in either team. The official name of the team is Ireland, all dating messily back to 1922 when Ireland joined the IOC.

The Great Britain team also includes overseas territories which aren't part of Great Britain, although how many athletes we ever take from the Falklands or Pitcairn Islands etc is a different question.

Oh ok. I had no idea that NI competitors had such a choice, just on geography not the individuals ancestry and/or citizenship right? Seems very odd.

Which NI competitors have turned out for Ireland over their 'rightful' GB?

Paddy Barnes - Boxing and Martyn Irvine in the Cycling are the two I can think off on the top of my head. There's a Londonderry marathon runner whos also running for the Republic team. There are others but I can't think of them at the moment.

I'm positive Martyn Irvine is in the Irish squad as the GB Men's team is the strongest in the world and he would not have had a sniff. The republic sponsors him to the tune of 12,000 euro's per year. He would have got nothing from the lottery fund.

Paddy Barnes competed for NI in the commonwealth games in 2006 before switching to the Republic. I've read there were also funding issues.

[Hoop Blah]

Ta RwC. I did have a quick look on Wiki after asking the question and saw the boxer, and maybe another one I think.

Seems a really odd way of doing it.

[Royal With Cheese]

No problems - the Irish situation throws up anamolies like this almost every day of the week.