As attention turns towards the Rio 2016 Olympic Games the nation has been taking to Google en masse with questions about Team GB.
So we have decided to put all the answers to the country’s questions in one place.
This question also covers another popular query – is Northern Ireland in Team GB?
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the UK Overseas Territories (including the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar).
As such, neither ‘UK’ nor ‘GB’ accurately describes the BOA’s remit nor would they be representative of all the territories that fall under the BOA’s jurisdiction.
While the BOA has always sought to give recognition to the valuable contribution made by all territories within its jurisdiction and who contribute to our Olympic success, the International Olympic Committee has always recognised the team as ‘GBR’ since its inception in 1896.
The BOA – a privately funded organisation – must generate financial support to send any team to an Olympic Games. With this is mind the ‘Team GB’ trading name and brand was decided to be the most appropriate for the Olympic identification of ‘GBR’.
In total Team GB won 65 medals at London 2012 – 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze – and finished third in the overall medal table behind the USA and China.
This total represented our most successful Olympic Games since 1908 and surpassed the 19 gold-medal tally from Beijing 2008.
This week saw the last of the athletes added to Team GB for Rio 2016, with 24 rugby 7s players joining the delegation.
That brought the total number of selected athletes to 366 across 23 sports – our largest team for an away Games since Barcelona 1992.
Last week saw UK Sport set a target of at least 48 medals at Rio 2016 which would represent our best-ever away Games.
The official medal target range is between 47 and 79 with a minimum target of eight in cycling, seven in athletics and six in rowing.