British Olympic Association

British Olympic Association

Country/Region	United Kingdom
Code	GBR
Created	1905
Recognized	1905
Continental Association	EOC
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
President	HRH The Princess Royal
Website	www.teamgb.com
Notes	Also includes the following territories and dependencies: Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Anguilla Falkland Islands Gibraltar Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Turks and Caicos Islands

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both the summer and winter Olympic Games, the Youth Olympic Games, the European Youth Olympic Festivals, and at the European Games.

BOA members and sporting bodies

The British Olympic Association – of the United Kingdom, its constituent countries, the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories which do not have their own NOC – competes at all summer, winter and youth Olympics as Great Britain ("Team GB").

Members

The association comprises members from the following –

• United Kingdom
  • England
  • Northern Ireland
  • Scotland
  • Wales

Note – Northern Irish athletes can choose whether to compete for Great Britain or for the Republic of Ireland, as they are entitled to citizenship of either nation under the Good Friday Agreement.

Crown Dependencies:

• Guernsey
• Isle of Man
• Jersey

British Overseas Territories:

• Akrotiri and Dhekelia
• Anguilla
• British Antarctic Territory
• British Indian Ocean Territory
• Falkland Islands
• Gibraltar
• Montserrat
• Pitcairn Islands
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
• Turks and Caicos Islands

Note – IOC rules currently do not allow dependent territories to obtain recognition for National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Three British Overseas Territories have their own NOCs predating this rule and are therefore not connected with the BOA: Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. While the territories of British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are nominally represented by the BOA, these territories have no permanent population and do not send athletes.

British sports bodies associated with the BOA

• UK Sport
• UK Anti-Doping
• Sport England
• English Institute of Sport
• Sport Northern Ireland
• Sportscotland
• Sport Wales

Role

The BOA is one of 206 National Committees (NOCs) currently recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC leads the promotion of Olympism in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

Working with the national governing bodies of each sport, the BOA selects Team GB's members to compete in all sports at the summer and winter Olympics. The BOA is independent and receives no funding from the government. Its income comes from fundraising and events.

The Great Britain is one of only five National Olympic Committees (the others being Australia, France, Greece and Switzerland) which have never failed to be represented at the Summer Olympic Games since 1896. Of these countries Great Britain, France and Switzerland are the only countries to have been present at all Olympic Winter Games; thus Great Britain is one of three countries that have competed at all Olympic Games. Great Britain is also the only nation in the Olympic Games to have won a Gold in every Summer games. Great Britain has hosted three Olympic Games, all of them in London: in 1908, 1948 and 2012.

Structure

At its formation in 1905 the association consisted of seven national governing body members from the following sports: fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing, athletics, rugby football, association football, and archery. It now includes as its members the thirty-three national governing bodies of each Olympic sport, both summer and winter.

A representative of each of the Olympic sports makes up the NOC, the BOA's decision and policy-making body. The NOC elects three officers: a President, a Chairman, and a Vice-Chairman, each for a four-year term. Six members of the NOC are elected to the Board, which oversees the work of the BOA and puts forward proposals for decision by the NOC. The present (2022) chief office holders are:

• President: The Princess Royal
• Chairman: Sir Hugh Robertson
• CEO: Andy Anson
• Vice Chairman: Annamarie Phelps

Founding

The BOA's origins pre-date the International Olympic movement and its governing body, the International Olympic Committee.

It traces its roots back to the National Olympian Association (NOA), which held its inaugural meeting at the Liverpool Gymnasium, Myrtle Street, Liverpool in November 1865. It promoted an annual series of sporting events across Britain, with the aim of encouraging participation in physical education through Olympian festivals. The NOA came about mainly through the efforts of John Hulley of Liverpool (Chairman), Dr William Penny Brookes (of Much Wenlock) and E G Ravenstein (president of the German Gymnastic Society of London). It took the existing Olympian Games of Much Wenlock as its example, thus the NOA Games "were open to all comers" and not just the products of Britain's public schools.

After the NOA closed in 1883 its motto ('Civium virtus civitatis tutamen' meaning 'the power of the citizens is the defence of the state') and ethos were inherited by the National Physical Recreation Society (NPRS) which was founded in 1885. From 1902 the President and Treasurer of the NPRS were members of the Olympic "Comité Britannique" and the NPRS was a founding body of the British Olympic Association in 1905.

Arms

Coat of arms of British Olympic Association

Notes 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

See also

• Great Britain at the Olympics
• British Paralympic Association
• Campaign for a Scottish Olympic Team
• Commonwealth Games England
• Commonwealth Games Scotland
• Commonwealth Games Wales
• Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council

Further reading

• Llewellyn, Matthew P (2012). Rule Britannia: Nationalism, Identity and the Modern Olympic Games. Routledge. ISBN 9780415663908

External links

• Team GB: official website
• British Olympic Association Archive Collection