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Team GB

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For the team that uses the brand, see Great Britain at the Olympics.

Team GB
Team GB branding from 2012
Product typeNational sporting branding, associated merchandising
OwnerBritish Olympic Association
CountryUnited Kingdom
IntroducedSeptember 1999
Registered as a trademark inUnited Kingdom
Websitewww.teamgb.com

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",[1] although athletes from Northern Ireland, depending on the sport, are either forced or may opt to compete under the auspices of the Olympic Federation of Ireland instead.[citation needed]

History

The British Olympic Association's director of marketing, Marzena Bogdanowicz, felt that the official and abbreviated names of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic team were a mouthful. She first thought of the 'Team GB' concept in 1996 or 1997, and said: "I went to the games in 1996 and the logo at the time was just the lion and the rings, but we weren't strong enough as a brand to just be a lion and the rings. So coming back I wanted to find something that was less of a mouthful, and also had that team feel. We looked at the options and came up with Team GB".[2]

The name was trademarked in September 1999 at the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO).[3]

Branding strategy

The BOA state that there "is only one Olympic team from Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Team GB. There is not an Olympic swimming team or Olympic rowing team. The individual sports join to become Team GB, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team."[4]

The Team GB brand was used as part of a licensing and merchandising strategy following the BOA's athletes success at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.[5] Bogdanowicz stated that the BOA wanted to "cement the Team GB brand in the minds of the British public".[6]

Calls for renaming

The team is officially known as the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team.[4]

In June 2009, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Sports Minister Gregory Campbell suggested that the name should be changed as the abbreviated form was not inclusive enough as it "excludes, and indeed alienates, the people of Northern Ireland".[7] Campbell's successor, Nelson McCausland, also suggested that an alternative name be found.[8]

A significant complication is that the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI), established in 1920, as the 'Irish Olympic Council', but not admitted by the IOC until June 1922, whilst all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, claims to represent the whole island of Ireland and not merely the Republic. The OCI and the BOA have an agreement under which Northern Ireland sportspeople may choose to compete for either team.[9]

Despite accusations that its brand name is exclusionary for Northern Irish athletes, the BOA has rejected calls for the name to be changed to Team UK, arguing that neither Team GB nor Team UK are entirely accurate, given that neither term covers all the members of its association, and that Team GB is an "effective trading name that fitted best with the Olympic identification of GBR".[10]

The existence of a Team GB has been criticised by Welsh and Scottish nationalists, advocating for separate Welsh[11][12] and Scottish olympic teams instead.[13][14][15] Criticism of specific sport teams representing Great Britain instead of their home nations have also been voiced, especially in association football where the four nations compete separately, and fears a GB football team would threaten their separate national football teams.[16][17] Some Welsh footballers, playing for a GB Olympic football team, did not sing "God Save the Queen", the national anthem used, in 2012, facing some criticism, however the team's manager stated it was a personal decision.[18]

Reception

The Team GB branding has been credited with creating a 'team feel', and direct comparisons were made of the performance at the 1996 Olympic Games in which the BOA's representatives won one gold medal, and the 2000 games where Great Britain and Northern Ireland performed under the Team GB name and returned with eleven gold medals.[2]

Comedian and columnist David Mitchell described the BOA's decision to create a nickname and rebrand their representative team as "capitalism's final victory" and "pathetic", going on to say that anyone who thought rebranding the Olympic squad has helped win more medals "are either morons or they think our athletes are".[19] Scottish columnist Gerry Hassan commented that "Team GB represents something which is a fiction and an illusion which doesn't correspond with any political form".[20]

Victory parade

Main article: Our Greatest Team Parade

A celebratory parade took place on 10 September 2012, commemorating the Olympic and Paralympic Games.[21][22]

Arms

Coat of arms of Team GB
Notes
[23]
Adopted
27 April 2016
Crest
On a Helm with a Wreath Argent, Gules and Azure: Within a Coronet comprising a Rim set with six Batons erect Or between Roundels alternately of Silver Gold and Bronze proper a Lion statant guardant Gules crowned with a Laurel Wreath the dexter forepaw raised and holding a Torch enflamed Or.
Escutcheon
Quarterly Gules and Azure two Leeks in pale that in base reversed and conjoined at the fess point to two Thistles in fess two Roses in bend and two Flax Flowers in bend sinister all with heads outwards and slipped and leaved Or the whole enfiling four Links of Chain interlaced in a square Argent.
Supporters
On either side a Lion guardant that on the dexter Azure that on the sinister Gules each crowned with a Laurel Wreath and holding in the exterior forepaw a Torch enflamed Or both upon a Compartment comprising a Grassy Mount Vert.
Motto
IUNCTI IN UNO

References

  1. ^ "Who, What, Why: Why is it Team GB, not Team UK?". BBC News. 14 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b Burton, Simon (19 August 2008). "Baffled by Beijing". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  3. ^ "team GB trademark details". Intellectual Property Office. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b "FAQ – What is Team GB?". TeamGB.com. British Olympic Association. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  5. ^ Kleinman, Mark (19 October 2000). "BOA to launch Team GB in high street". PR Week. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  6. ^ "BOA to launch Team GB in high street". campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Don't call it Team GB, says Gregory Campbell". Belfast Telegraph. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  8. ^ McGarrigle, Heather (10 March 2011). "No place for 'NI', says Olympic Team GB". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  9. ^ HL Deb 21 October 2004 vol 665 c99WA Hansard
  10. ^ "Minister urges BOA to change 'erroneous Team GB name'". BBC News. 10 March 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  11. ^ "Plaid Cymru deputy leader calls for Wales to compete in its own right at next Olympics". Nation.Cymru. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Chapter 12". YesCymru. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  13. ^ "SNP repeats Olympic football call". 11 November 2005. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  14. ^ "PollResults". 27 August 2013. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  15. ^ "Land of Hope and Glory?". The Glasgow Guardian. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  16. ^ Rappaport, Sarah. "UK Olympic Soccer Team in Chaos As Welsh, Scottish, And Northern Irish Still Say No". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  17. ^ "Times chief football writer shuts down idea of Great Britain team". Nation.Cymru. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  18. ^ WalesOnline (28 July 2012). "Welsh Team GB stars slammed over anthem controversy". WalesOnline. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  19. ^ Mitchell, David (23 August 2008). "Olympics: Why 'Team GB' is capitalism's final victory". The Guardian. London.
  20. ^ "Gerry Hassan: Olympics to kick off with national confusion". The Scotsman. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  21. ^ Gibson, Owen (28 August 2012). "Our Greatest Team: Olympians and Paralympians to parade in London". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  22. ^ "Our Greatest Team – athletes parade route details confirmed". Greater London Authority. 27 August 2012. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  23. ^ "'The Team GB coat of arms'". Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
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