Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed as the host nation of the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. The British Olympic Association was the National Olympic Committee responsible for organizing the United Kingdom's representation. At the time British athletes competed under the team name "United Kingdom". The British team comprised 676 competitors. A number of Irish athletes boycotted the games in protest at British refusals to grant Irish Home Rule. During the opening ceremony, American athletes did not dip their flag to the British royalty in support of the Irish
Water motorsports at the 1908 Summer Olympics Water motorsports at the 1908 Summer Olympics At the 1908 Summer Olympics, three motorboat racing events were contested. Various sources refer to the sport as "water motorsports", "motor boats", and "power boating". These Games were the only one to feature motorized sports; although it was featured in 1900, those events were deemed by the IOC in later years to be non-Olympic. All three events used the same distance, five laps around an 8 nautical mile course for a total of . In each of the events, multiple boats started but only one finished, due primarily to the gale that was