We’ve had a couple of emails in the Uni Watch inbox lately about why some countries at the Olympics have their name spelled out in English, rather than the native tongue. Quite frankly, I have no idea. Nor do I have the time to call each company’s Olympic Committee and find out.
But Serbia is here to help. Novak Djokovic ended up losing to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, but his shirt provided a good example of some non-English spelling. I especially like the ‘J’. Have a good Saturday, ja? — Bryan
Did Nadal wear ‘Spain’ or ‘Espana’ on his uniform?
I’ve always wondered why Germany doesn’t wear ‘Deutchland’ but Finland wears ‘Suomi’. Odd.
I’d assume it has to do with recognition. If you use the Latin alphabet you can easily figure out Srbija and Nederland, and Deutschland and España are familiar enough to be recognized. However, most people probably have no idea what Hrvatska or Österreich mean.
Also interesting to look through is the link. Nearly all seem to be derived from the English name of the country. Some use the local name (i.e. Spain, Netherlands), and only a few use the French name (i.e. US Virgin Islands, Romania). Others are appropriate for English, French, and/or the local language (Serbia/Serbie/Srbija, Islande/Ãsland).
[quote comment=”284902″]I’ve always wondered why Germany doesn’t wear ‘Deutchland’ but Finland wears ‘Suomi’. Odd.[/quote]
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I watched the tennis semi between Dementieva and Zvonareva. Why wasnt’n the latter wearing the Russia uniform?
I’ve always wondered why Germany doesn’t wear ‘Deutchland’ but Finland wears ‘Suomi’. Odd.
On the back of Germany’s Adidas gymnastics warmups, it read “Deutschland”, and had the Chinese equivalent underneath.
Also interesting to look through is the list of IOC codes. Nearly all seem to be derived from the English name of the country.
Some are derived from the French (AUT/Austria/Autriche). Often, the English and French are similar enough to make the trigramme work either way.
Don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but Ricky Rubio of Spain has ‘Ricky’ for his NOB in today’s game. He must think highly of himself.
[quote comment=”284902″]Did Nadal wear ‘Spain’ or ‘Espana’ on his uniform?
I’ve always wondered why Germany doesn’t wear ‘Deutchland’ but Finland wears ‘Suomi’. Odd.[/quote]
Stubby what are you talking about? They wear Deutchland.
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[quote comment=”284906″]I’ve always wondered why Germany doesn’t wear ‘Deutchland’ but Finland wears ‘Suomi’. Odd.
On the back of Germany’s Adidas gymnastics warmups, it read “Deutschland”, and had the Chinese equivalent underneath.[/quote]
OK, maybe Germany was a bad example.
On a different note, how do the beach volleyball team of Dalhausser/Rogers get away with wearing individual sponsorships on their uniforms? Dalhausser is sponsored by Speedo and Rogers is sponsored by Crocs. It looked to be embroidered onto their shirts. I thought only the manufacturer of the garment’s logo was allowed in the Olympics
apparently it is common on the team for the younger guys – Rudy and Marc have it as well. but not Pau or Calderon.
a few other present-day French examples:
LIB – Lebanon (Liban)
MAR – Morocco (Maroc)
SUI – Switzerland (Suisse)
and defunct countries:
TCH – Checkoslovakia (Tchekoslovakie)
URS – USSR (Union des Republiques Socialistes Soviets)
EUN – Unified Team (Equipe Unifie)
[quote comment=”284909″]Don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but Ricky Rubio of Spain has ‘Ricky’ for his NOB in today’s game. He must think highly of himself.[/quote]
I posted this a few days ago, but it was late, so I thought I’d reiterate: For those of us in the western half of the US, can we get a “Spoiler Alert” if results will be mentioned when discussing Olympic coverage (since NBC refuses to allow us to watch “live” coverage as it is actually happening)? Initially I though it was just for prime time coverage, but it turns out that it applies to daytimes, too (today’s coverage starts at 10am local–1pm Eastern) I know there were no spoilers in this comment, but it had me worried.
Thanks, from the Rockies to the Pacific.
[quote comment=”284914″][quote comment=”284909″]Don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but Ricky Rubio of Spain has ‘Ricky’ for his NOB in today’s game. He must think highly of himself.[/quote]
I posted this a few days ago, but it was late, so I thought I’d reiterate: For those of us in the western half of the US, can we get a “Spoiler Alert” if results will be mentioned when discussing Olympic coverage (since NBC refuses to allow us to watch “live” coverage as it is actually happening)? Initially I though it was just for prime time coverage, but it turns out that it applies to daytimes, too (today’s coverage starts at 10am local–1pm Eastern) I know there were no spoilers in this comment, but it had me worried.
Thanks, from the Rockies to the Pacific.[/quote]
Well its on ESPN, NBC, and any other sports site you look at so its gonna be tough to avoid them
[quote comment=”284915″][quote comment=”284914″][quote comment=”284909″]Don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but Ricky Rubio of Spain has ‘Ricky’ for his NOB in today’s game. He must think highly of himself.[/quote]
I posted this a few days ago, but it was late, so I thought I’d reiterate: For those of us in the western half of the US, can we get a “Spoiler Alert” if results will be mentioned when discussing Olympic coverage (since NBC refuses to allow us to watch “live” coverage as it is actually happening)? Initially I though it was just for prime time coverage, but it turns out that it applies to daytimes, too (today’s coverage starts at 10am local–1pm Eastern) I know there were no spoilers in this comment, but it had me worried.
Thanks, from the Rockies to the Pacific.[/quote]
Well its on ESPN, NBC, and any other sports site you look at so its gonna be tough to avoid them[/quote]
I’ve managed pretty well for the last week and I’d appreciate your help here. Thanks in advance!
I’ve managed pretty well too…though you can watch some things live online(I’m watching the US/Spain basketball game right now). Some events won’t show anything live…not even prelim heats(track and swimming)…that’s just criminal.
New Zealand’s womens field hockey team wearing light blue tank tops, white skirts & light blue high socks. Interesting look for the Black Sticks.
Light blue ranks about fourth or fifth on the list of kiwi sporting colors — behind black, white, silver & beige.
LarenR- I’m with you.
there is nothing worse than flipping channels waiting for NBC get done with all the bullshit and get to the actual, ya’know, competition and then you see a “phelps alert” on the espn ticker. This whole Olympics as a whole has just sucked from a broadcast standpoint.
Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly but it seems to me that the men’s sprint track tops aren’t as tight as they used to be. During last night’s 100m prelims it seemed like each of the three runners NBC was interested in (Gay, Bolt, and Powell) all had kind of blousey tops that rippled as they ran. The link shows one ahead of the other so if you don’t know who won avoid it.
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Was just watching track cycling on USA Network and the German riders had ‘GERMANY’ across their backs. It does vary by sport for them.
I remember watching a soccer game featuring Croatia on TV a few years ago, and in the middle of the game, they changed the abbreviation for Croatia in top-left-corner score indicator from the native “HRV” (Hrvatska) to “CRO”, seemingly for the benefit of English speakers. It’s too bad that Croatia’s native name hasn’t yet become as universally recognized as, say, España, or Deutschland, or Nippon.
In other news, check out these link — it seems like everybody positions the numbers too low these days, but Cuba really aces it. Now to get them to stop issuing outlandish numbers like 88…
In other news, check out these perfectly-positioned numbers on the backs of the Cuban baseball team – it seems like everybody positions the numbers too low these days, but Cuba really aces it. Now to get them to stop issuing outlandish numbers like 88…
That’s because the uniforms are left over from 1959, When Castro played!
[quote comment=”284907″]Also interesting to look through is the list of IOC codes. Nearly all seem to be derived from the English name of the country.
Some are derived from the French (AUT/Austria/Autriche). Often, the English and French are similar enough to make the trigramme work either way.[/quote]
AUS was already taken by Australia. Austria probably had to use the French derivative for that reason.
Watching the Men’s Beach Vollyball game with USA vs Spain. On the USA team of Rosenthal/Gibbs, Rosenthal has the Speedo logo on his tank top covered up with white tape.
The Seattle PI has a photo shoot of Seahawks players posing with rescued animals for a calendar benefit coming up. But Matt Hasselbeck has a narrow patch on the front of his jersey that no one else has. Does anyone know what it is? (No it’s not the C patch)
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NOB alert:
Can someone tell me what in the world is going on link? Is this normal?
Does anyone know the story with the Indians’ jerseys today, in the 1948 style?
I’m watching the Twins-Mariners game and I’m hoping someone has a Ryan Rowland-Smith NOB picture, because it looks like the ‘R’ is under his left arm, and the ‘H’ is under is right.
[quote comment=”284927″]NOB alert:
Can someone tell me what in the world is going on link? Is this normal?[/quote]
NOB, no period after the T, wrong number font – so many things wrong there.
And what kind of “Fisk” jersey is that in the background?
A few Olympics observations (no worries, I won’t give up any results):
I was watching the Women’s Badminton final (yes, I love the Olympics that much), and the matchup was between 2 Chinese players. The higher-ranked player wore the usual red uni, while her teammate/opponent wore their alternate golds.
A little later I caught the Mens Single Scull rowing final, and the competitor from New Zealand not only wore an all-black uni, he also had an all-black boat. The broadcasters said it was custom-made to adjust for his height, and it was the only one I saw that wasn’t white or gold.
And finally, from the Bird’s Nest, they pointed out during the Womens 400m preliminaries that Sanya Richards is wearing custom shoes with the Giants “ny” logo and the number 31, in honor of her man, Jints DB Aaron Ross.
[quote comment=”284931″]
A little later I caught the Mens Single Scull rowing final, and the competitor from New Zealand not only wore an all-black uni, he also had an all-black boat. The broadcasters said it was custom-made to adjust for his height, and it was the only one I saw that wasn’t white or gold.
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At the Olympic level, it’s most likely that all of the rowing shells start out black as they are built from carbon fiber. Colored gelcoat is the most common finished look.
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[quote comment=”284932″][quote comment=”284931″]
A little later I caught the Mens Single Scull rowing final, and the competitor from New Zealand not only wore an all-black uni, he also had an all-black boat. The broadcasters said it was custom-made to adjust for his height, and it was the only one I saw that wasn’t white or gold.
[/quote]
At the Olympic level, it’s most likely that all of the rowing shells start out black as they are built from carbon fiber. Colored gelcoat is the most common finished look.
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I know they all start out black, but his was the only one to have a black finish.
[quote comment=”284930″][quote comment=”284927″]NOB alert:
Can someone tell me what in the world is going on link? Is this normal?[/quote]
NOB, no period after the T, wrong number font – so many things wrong there.
And what kind of “Fisk” jersey is that in the background?[/quote]
The Ted Williams jersey might be like that because most manufacturers wont create the exact name and number of a retired player on a custom jersey. Maybe he got away with it by adding the “T” but it still looks pretty gay.
[quote comment=”284934″][quote comment=”284930″][quote comment=”284927″]NOB alert:
Can someone tell me what in the world is going on link? Is this normal?[/quote]
NOB, no period after the T, wrong number font – so many things wrong there.
And what kind of “Fisk” jersey is that in the background?[/quote]
The Ted Williams jersey might be like that because most manufacturers wont create the exact name and number of a retired player on a custom jersey. Maybe he got away with it by adding the “T” but it still looks pretty gay.[/quote]
Guessing that the Fisk jersey is #72 in navy, it has to be a Chicago White Sox jersey. I’ll guess the 1980’s “beach blanket” design.
[quote comment=”284935″][quote comment=”284934″][quote comment=”284930″][quote comment=”284927″]NOB alert:
Can someone tell me what in the world is going on link? Is this normal?[/quote]
NOB, no period after the T, wrong number font – so many things wrong there.
And what kind of “Fisk” jersey is that in the background?[/quote]
The Ted Williams jersey might be like that because most manufacturers wont create the exact name and number of a retired player on a custom jersey. Maybe he got away with it by adding the “T” but it still looks pretty gay.[/quote]
Guessing that the Fisk jersey is #72 in navy, it has to be a Chicago White Sox jersey. I’ll guess the 1980’s “beach blanket” design.[/quote]
Gotta love the crappy Majestic replica jerseys — wrong font for 90% of the teams, only one color names and numbers, and names on everything (even Yanks & Sox). How do that get away with that?
Does anyone know the story with the Indians’ jerseys today, in the 1948 style?
They seem to wear those for every Saturday home game. They look great, don’t they?
Here’s an MLS uniform oddity for ya:
Colorado GK Preston Burpo is wearing last year’s jersey in the game vs Kansas City tonight. The 2007 name/number fonts are the giveaway.
I think japan is fairly interesting, they are pretty much the only country that uses the same characters as China does to write their name, but they never use that, they also switch between japan and nippon (even weirder they rarely use nippon in diplomacy and instead use nihon which is another reading for 日本) depending on the sport, and sometimes just between the uniform and warmups.
I also forgot to point out that a lot of their Jerseys are pretty easy to confuse with China because they are using a lot of yellow(see gymnastics) and chinese dragons on their singlet
[quote comment=”284937″]Does anyone know the story with the Indians’ jerseys today, in the 1948 style?
They seem to wear those for every Saturday home game. They look great, don’t they?[/quote]
sigh….
[url=
link is their typical weekend alternate jersey.
[url=
link is what they wore yesterday.
BIG differences. Both look pretty sharp.
ouch. terrible.
try again…
’48 throwbacks
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Home weekend alternates
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[quote comment=”284934″]Maybe he got away with it by adding the “T” but it still looks pretty gay.[/quote]
How, exactly, did it look gay? Was it making out with another male jersey?
In answer to the question of why foriegn countries have unis that show their team names spelled out in English is a pretty simple one… and it is not out of niceness to the english speaking audience… although it is nice for us.
It is because Nations sign uni deals with global apparel companies and get doe-re-meee to wear the latest in fashion. For example, country Absurdistan accepts big money from the good peeps at N-n-n-n-n.. the company whose name we dare not speak, and in exchange gets top of the line unis.. and since the apparel company wants to increase sales in the biggest market for said apparel… that would be the english speaking one, they insist on that as a condition.
Capitalism at its olympic best, or worst… you decide.