British Olympic Association in the context of "Great Britain at the Olympics"

⭐ In the context of Great Britain at the Olympics, the British Olympic Association is primarily responsible for…

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⭐ Core Definition: British Olympic Association

The British Olympic Association (BOA; Welsh: Cymdeithas Olympaidd Prydain; IOC Code: GBR) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also represents the athletes of the three Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man and eight of the eleven inhabited British Overseas Territories. The British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Cayman Islands each have their own national Olympic associations, founded before the modern rules restricting the recognition of national Olympic committees to recognised states.

Athletes from Northern Ireland are also entitled, as of right, to represent Ireland (the team organised by the Olympic Federation of Ireland) and routinely do so in certain sports due to all-island governing bodies existing in those sports such as rugby, tennis and field hockey.

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πŸ‘‰ British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain at the Olympics

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, referred to as simply "Great Britain", has been represented at every modern Olympic Games. As of the 2024 Summer Olympics, it is third in the all-time Summer Olympic medal table by overall number of medals, and fourth in number of gold medals won. London hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1908, 1948 and 2012.

Athletes from the United Kingdom compete as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, branded "Team GB". The team is organised by the British Olympic Association, the National Olympic Committee for the UK. Team GB also represents the United Kingdom's Overseas Territories (with the exceptions of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands), and the three Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. Athletes from Northern Ireland can choose to compete for either Great Britain or Ireland, with most choosing Ireland. The use of "Great Britain" over "United Kingdom" has faced criticism in Northern Ireland.

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In this Dossier

British Olympic Association in the context of Team GB

Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. It is meant to unify the team as one body, irrespective of each member athlete's particular sport. Officially, the team is the "Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team", although athletes from Northern Ireland may opt to compete under the auspices of the Olympic Federation of Ireland instead.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain at the 1928 Summer Olympics

Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. British athletes won only three gold medals (down from nine in 1924), and twenty medals overall, finishing eleventh. 232 competitors, 201 men and 31 women, took part in 84 events in 14 sports.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed as the host nation for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. It was the second time that the United Kingdom had hosted the Summer Olympic Games, equalling the record of France and the United States to that point. British athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. 404 competitors, 335 men and 68 women, took part in 139 events in 21 sports.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. British athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, alongside Australia, France and Greece, though Great Britain is the only one to have won at least one gold medal at all of them. London was the first city to host the Summer Olympics on three different occasions, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. It was joined by Paris in 2024 and will be joined by Los Angeles in 2028 in hosting the Olympic Games for a third time. Team GB, organised by BOA, sent a total of 541 athletes, 279 men and 262 women, to the Games, and won automatic qualification places in all 26 sports.

The government agency UK Sport targeted a total of 48 to 70 medals, with a commitment of at least a minimum amount, one more than the team won at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and a fourth-place finish in the medal table. On 7 August 2012, Great Britain had reached its 48-medal target, and surpassed the 19 gold-medal tally from Beijing the previous Summer Olympics, making it the most successful Olympics since 1908.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Eddie the Eagle (film)

Eddie the Eagle is a 2015 biographical sports comedy-drama film directed by Dexter Fletcher. The film stars Taron Egerton as Michael Edwards, a British skier who in 1988 became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping since 1928. Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken, Iris Berben and Jim Broadbent co-star. The film had its first public screening at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon in Austin, Texas on December 12, 2015 and its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2016.

The film was released in the United States on February 26, 2016, by 20th Century Fox and in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2016, by Lionsgate.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics

Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. British athletes have competed in every single Summer Olympic Games. 300 competitors, 184 men and 116 women, took part in 175 events in 22 sports. The Atlanta games saw Great Britain's worst performance at a Summer Olympics since 1952, finishing in 36th position with a single gold medal, and 15 medals overall.

The "rock bottom" British performance at the Atlanta Olympics led to a period of soul searching about the state of British sport. Insufficient funding was identified as a major factor in the poor performance, and this led to a wholesale reform of how elite sports were funded, organised and supported in the UK: At the instigation of the then Prime Minister John Major, UK Sport was created the following year, a public body which distributes National Lottery funding for elite sports. Previously, due to a lack of funding, cyclist Chris Boardman had acclimatised to the humidity of Atlanta by practicing in his home bathroom with the shower turned on, and divers Bob Morgan and Tony Ally sold their Olympic kits while in Atlanta in order to raise funds. Leon Taylor, who would win a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, suggested the public humiliation for the British Olympic Association from the newspaper stories about Morgan & Ally's actions obligated them to bring in better athlete funding. Nevertheless, the single gold medal won by rowers Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave ensured that Great Britain maintained its record of winning at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympics.

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British Olympic Association in the context of Great Britain women's Olympic football team

The Great Britain women's Olympic football team (also known as Team GB; or occasionally Great Britain and Northern Ireland) represent the United Kingdom in the women's football tournament at the Olympic Games. Normally, no team represents the whole of the United Kingdom in women's football, as separate teams represent England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Women's football was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1996, but Great Britain did not enter the football events at this time. This changed when the 2012 Summer Olympics were hosted by London, as an Olympic football team was created to take the automatic qualifying place of the host nation. Following an agreement between the British Olympic Association (BOA) and The Football Association (FA), which operates the England team, the FA selected the British team, which could include players from across the United Kingdom. The team reached the quarter-finals, losing to Canada.

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British Olympic Association in the context of London 2012 Olympic bid

London 2012 was the successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, held in London with most events taking place in Stratford in the borough of Newham. The British Olympic Association had been working on the bid since 1997, and presented its report to government ministers in December 2000.

Following three consecutive unsuccessful UK bids to host summer Olympic Games (Birmingham for 1992 and Manchester for 1996 and 2000), the decision was made to bid with London, given the clear indication that it was the only UK city that had a chance of being selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when put up against other world cities in a competitive bidding process. On 6 July 2005 at its 117th Session in Singapore, the IOC awarded London the right to host the Games of the XXX Olympiad. The city beat the favourite Paris 54 to 50 on the fourth and final ballot. London was the first city to host the Games three times.

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