In football, rugby etc. England and Wales compete as own teams but in like swimming these compete under Great Britain. Why aren't it any Scottish flagged sprinters?
As a follow-up, I recall a lot of controversy here in the UK before the 2012 games about the possibility of creating a "Team GB" instead of the separate countries competing. Have there ever been other attempts to unite them, and what prevented those attempts from succeeding?
As a side question: when did each individual part of the UK first field a "national" team (in any sport), preferably against another sovereign state outwith the British Isles.