I think that your suggestion that there should be 2 categories for Team Great Britain (pre-1921) is a good one. In 1801 the "Act of Union" united Great Britain (England and Scotland) and Ireland under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The union remained until the recognition of the Irish Free State (excluding six of the counties of the northern province of Ulster) by the Anglo-Irish treaty dated 6 December 1921. The Olympic teams 1896-1920 although called by the short name Great Britain should have the category "Olympians representing Great Britain and Ireland". After 1921 Team Great Britain should have the category "Olympians representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and Team Ireland from 1924 have the current category "Olympians representing Ireland".

It may be difficult to please everyone but if there are no other issues with this I will see if we can get the new category added and change the exisiting profiles that are affected by the change.

Natalie

It doesn't help that official Olympic records assign pre-1921 Irish athletes to the Great Britain and Ireland team even when the odd athlete went out of their way to disassociate themselves from the team (see Kiely-507). As long as the profiles clearly explain what's what, hopefully we can avoid any diplomatic incidents.

Otherwise you are opening the door to multiplicating categories for each time a country's frontiers changed since 1896. Imagine the implications for Germany, for instance.