Why did the british use the name Great Britain not UK in Olympics2008? ?

Not quite sure what pokemon1spiderman2 is on since neither of his definitions are right.
We went in as Team GB and GB is Scotland, England and Wales... but I we were actually participating as one of the 195 independent countries of the world as the United Kingdom. The UK is the three constituent countries of Great Britain PLUS Northern Ireland.
Not sure how NI felt about being omitted from the "trendy" team name... I know I'd be unhappy at that.

I'm not surprised you get confused as the team should be called UK (Scotland, England Wales and Northern Ireland) but for some reason has always competed as Great Britain (Just Scotland, England and Wales)

Don't know where Pokemon learned his geography but England is NOT the same as Great Britain!

UK = United Kingdom = England + Scotland + Wales

Great Britain = England