>>>Why is it that the UK participates in the Olympics as "Great Britian and Northern Ireland" but in the World cup as England? That freaky St. George's cross makes me nervous like Richard the Lionhearted is about to attack. Why not field "United Kingdom" teams for both? Or is Gibralter holding out?
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>>Been thinking about this. I figure that it's NATIONS that compete in the olympics AOT countries. Sure, a country CAN be a nation but although I'm English (though I haven't a drop of English blood in my body) my NATION is Britain
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>Maybe, but Canada is a country not a nation. We have the french-canadians and the native peoples (first nations). So I guess we are a collection of nations.

I have to disagree. We are a country and a nation:

Nation: a community of people composed of one or more nationalities and possessing a more or less defined territory and government (Websters)

The way I see it, if you are surrounded by national boundaries, you are in a nation.