Hi there,
I am sure this is something that many folk have pondered over, but
never looked for the definitive answer. It caught my curiosity - I
spent a number of years in Scotland, and I know how fiercely
independent they are, so why don't they have their own team in the
Olympics?
I was unable to find the official Olympic rules anywhere online, and
so my answer is an amalgamation of unofficial explanations.
Britain competed in the first modern Olympics as a singular nation,
and it has stayed that way. If any of England, Scotland, Wales or
Northern Ireland creates their own National Olympic Committee, and
obtain the recognition of all the relevant national sports
organizations, it could then apply for membership of the IOC. In the
case of Scotland, there has been a motion in parliament for this to
happen. Countries like Puerto Rico, which is part of the USA, compete
as a nation, so any country like Scotland, which now has its own
parliament, should be able to do the same.
There has been a Usenet discussion of your question:
"There is only one British Olympic team because they are only one
country. The Olympic Games are more faithful to the commonly accepted
definition of a country (something like a seat at the UN,
international recognition, etc)"
"The real answer to why Britain only has one team, is that they only
had one team in 1896. This set the precedent. I suspect that the
primary consideration back then was the cost involved in sending the
athletes. Four countries can be four times the cost."
"But what about Puerto Rico? That is not an independent country; all
of its citizens are citizens of the United States. However, it fields
its own Olympic team.
Puerto Rico is a "largely self-governing commonwealth associated with
the United States." (Encyclopedia Americana, 1992, v.22 p.777) They
have their own senate and house of representatives and have a governor
just like a state. However, they are considered more like a
territory and therefore are permitted to compete separately in
international events like the Olympics.
BTW, Guam (US territory) is also competing as a separate team, and all
of their citizens are US citizens also."
"The IOC accepts or rejects teams purporting to represent a territory
at its discretion.
The IOC is entirely independent in this, although it makes its
decisions with due regard to the political situation. For instance, in
the case of (a) South Africa (b) Yugoslavia, the IOC followed the UN
resolution calling for the severing of sports relations (in the case
of Yugoslavia, it is allowing Yugoslav athletes to compete as
Yugoslavians, although the team as such is not recognized.) The IOC
also considers the opinions of the host nation, although I can't
recall any team being banned because the host country wanted it.
In the case of Scotland, if an organisation would call itself the
Scottish National Olympic Committee, and obtain the recognition of the
Scottish sports organisations (the swimmers, the soccer players, and
the chaps doing skeet shooting), it could then apply for membership of
the IOC"
All above quotes taken from:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&th=44a16032325ca9f5&rnum=3
From the British Embassy in Copenhagen:
"Since 1972 a British football team has not competed at the Olympics,
as the four countries of the United Kingdom wish to maintain separate
national teams, and under Olympic rules Britain is only allowed to
send one team to the Olympics."
http://www.britishembassy.dk/PressPR/presssports.htm
From the official Olympics site:
"Although most NOCs [National Olympic Committees] are from nations,
the IOC also recognises independent territories, commonwealths,
protectorates and geographical areas. There are currently 199 NOCs,
ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe."
http://www.olympics.com/uk/organisation/noc/index_uk.asp
An article at Global Policy Forum investigates the complex nature of
distinguishing between nations and states, and mentions the difference
between United Nations membership, and Olympic teams:
"Nations... are groups of people claiming common bonds like language,
culture and historical identity"
http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/natstats.htm
An article about British devolution and sport says:
"In these politically correct times Britain, as a sporting nation, is
an anachronism, it is something that the International Olympic
Committee can’t handle for instance. The Sydney Olympics was the last
to be contested by a British team..."
http://www.playtheball.com/lineone/rugby_league/features/default_features.asp?feat=lions
Motion from Mr Kenneth Gibson in the Scottish Parliament, March 2002:
"...regrets that while Scotland competes in the cricket, football and
rugby world cups and the Commonwealth Games in its own right, it does
not do so in the Olympics; recognises that while most Olympic teams
are from independent nations, the International Olympic Committee also
recognises participants from independent territories, commonwealths,
protectorates and others; believes that for the Athens Olympiad in
2004 and subsequent winter and summer Olympic games, Scotland should
join the other 199 countries of the Olympic movement in participating
in its own right, and considers that the Scottish Executive should
work to that end."
http://www.scottishsportsassociation.org.uk/parl/March2002.html
"American Samoa, Aruba, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman
Islands, Cook Islands, Guam, Hong Kong, Netherlands Antilles,
Palestine, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands all entered teams in the
Olympics despite their non-independent status; recognises that
Scotland competes in the cricket, football and rugby union world cups
and Commonwealth Games in its own right; believes that Scotland should
compete in the Athens and subsequent Olympic Games in its own right,
and calls upon the Scottish Executive to work to that end."
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/agenda_and_decisions/bb-00/bb-11-20f.htm
Interview with Simon Kirkland, Chief Executive of Basketball England
"It is also clear that England, Scotland or Wales teams cannot enter
the Olympic tournaments and we would have to amalgamate as Great
Britain"
http://www.britball.com/features/qnakirkland006.htm
A summary of the confusion within British sport, from the Britain
Abroad Taskforce:
Olympics: Team GB represents Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Commonwealth Games: the UK is represented by seven teams (The Isle of
Man, Jersey and Guernsey have their own teams)
Football: There is no UK team. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland compete separately
Rugby: The UK nations compete separately with people from Northern
Ireland playing in the Irish team. There is a composite team for the
British Isles called the British and Irish Lions
Cricket: the 'England' cricket team is actually the England and Wales
cricket team. Scotland has a separate team of its own for some
competitions
http://www.batf.org.uk/trivia.htm
Google search used:
"Great Britain" Olympics "Commonwealth Games" England Scotland Wales
://www.google.com/search?q=%22Great+Britain%22+olympics+%22Commonwealth+Games%22+England+Scotland+Wales&num=30
I trust this answers your question. Feel free to ask for any
clarifications you may require.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga |
