Olympic Trivia: Britons can't distinguish between Great Britain, UK

LONDON – Even ordinary Britons cannot distinguish between United Kingdom and Great Britain. Of course they know England is Britain but not Great Britain or vice versa.

A news desk staff asked for exact information had to consult more knowledgeable quarters. The United Kingdom is referred to as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain consists of England, Wales and Scotland – excluding Northern Ireland.

If that confuses you, here’s another: Team Great Britain competing in the Games is actually a team of four countries - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Of the UK’s population of 62 million, 51 million are in England.

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If it’s any consolation, the Philippines is not the worst performer in the Olympics. Team Great Britain leads a tally of most countries with the most last-three finishes.

Overall, the Brits have eight last-place finishes, 11 second-to-last finishes and 12 third-to-last finishes. Its total of 31 is eight more than its next closest competitor, Ukraine.

Those numbers are courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, which has kept a medal count of shame for the past two Olympics. It awards less-than-precious medals for bottom-three finishes in every event. Finish last, the WSJ counts it as a lead medal. Second-to-last and third-to-last bring tin and zinc, respectively.

The reason for many zeroes is that Great Britain, as host, is entered in every event regardless of whether the athletes are qualified or not.

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In percentage, the Philippines holds the record for most number of athletes that have not gone past the elimination phase. The Philippines has all but one of its 11 entries only as far as the first round of the eliminations. The only athlete to move to the second round was boxer Mark Barriga.

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Londoners are in the Olympic Park out of sheer curiosity – how their government has transformed a former dumpsite of old cars and junk and stinking, abandoned buildings into the world’s largest urban park, now the 253-hectare Olympic Park.

By Aug. 7 the two millionth ticketed spectator had passed through the Olympic Park. Venues and big screens across the UK are also attracting huge crowds. Live Sites drew 2.7 million people, with the busiest day being Super Saturday (Aug. 4) – with a turnout of 350,000 people. The biggest crowd in any single Olympic event was in men’s triathlon where about 160,000 spectators witnessed Alistair Brownlee become the first British athlete to win gold in the event Aug. 7. Also, 120,000 spectators witnessed the women’s marathon Aug. 7 and 60,000 the women’s triathlon Aug. 4.

London 2012 is expected to break attendance records, with seven million spectators having watched games in the venues so far.

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China has the biggest media delegation of 1,600, although this is only eight percent of the total 21,000 international media covering the Games. China publishes an English and Chinese daily newspaper here. It is circulated daily to journalists and 15,000 other athletes, coaches and officials in the Athletes Village.

Another PR side to China’s participation is the China House in Central London where guests from all nationalities get to appreciate a lot of China – footages of past Chinese Olympians, exhibits and live cultural events, including a solo concert by young Chinese singer Dou Dou.