The Democratic Unionist Party want Team GB to be renamed as Team UK before agreeing to prop up a Conservative government.
The DUP holds huge power after Thursday’s shock election, where the Tories failed to get an overall majority and are needing the Northern Irish party to prop them up to govern.
And if it has its way – and their support is critical now despite having just 10 MPs – it could see Great Britain’s Olympic team changed.
In its 2017 election manifesto, it had Team GB’s rebrand to Team UK “in recognition of Northern Ireland”.
The party unsuccessfully lobbied for the name change ahead of the 2012 Olympics, their argument being the existing title did not reflect the areas of the UK which lay outside Great Britain.
That does not take into account Team GB being an abbreviation of the full team name, “Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
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The British Olympic Association said in 2011 neither Team GB or Team UK were truly accurate titles.
Their explanation was that not all members were part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom, such as the Isle of Man, Jersey and other overseas territories.
In the manifesto the DUP called for: "Recognition of Northern Ireland sporting bodies, the Olympic team should be referred to as Team UK and the freedom for athletes to choose their national team."
It is expected the DUP will pressure Theresa May's Tories to help Northern Ireland in the "securing of major sporting events".
In 2021 it is Northern Ireland's centenary, and the DUP want that recognised with major matches.
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