Wearers of red team uniforms or kits have been shown to do better than
those wearing other colours (Attrill et al, 2008). When sport
means so much and outcome is often decided in millimetres or thousandths
of a second, we should be doing all we can to help our athletes
achieve. I think that the GB Olympic designers may have missed an
opportunity here to include more red in the design (it is mainly blue). If it were more red, this may have helped
give the GB wearers a boost psychologically that would be reflected in
physical performance - for instance, if the red increased confidence,
(positive) aggression and sense that they are dominant, then they are
likely to perform closer to their peak performance potential. In
addition, there may be negative affects on opponents, facing our
athletes wearing significant amounts of red, where they assume a less
confident and more submissive position in the sporting contests. While
these affects are likely to be small, when it comes to the Olympics, the
margins between gold and silver, medal and non-medal, are small, but the difference in reward is huge.
Outside the Olympics, Tiger Woods for years has worn red on the last day of his tournaments, and we all know how dominant he was. Was this something he learned from research, from observation or from his own experience?
Dr Victor Thompson
www.sportspsychologist.com
(This comment was given to the Guardian newspapers on 22 March 2012)
Outside the Olympics, Tiger Woods for years has worn red on the last day of his tournaments, and we all know how dominant he was. Was this something he learned from research, from observation or from his own experience?
Dr Victor Thompson
www.sportspsychologist.com
(This comment was given to the Guardian newspapers on 22 March 2012)
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