SportsPsychologist.com Blog by Dr Victor Thompson

London 2012's chairman, Sebastian Coe, told a news conference at Kew Gardens: "I am delighted to announce the motto 'Inspire a generation'. With 100 days to go to the start of the Games, millions of people are getting ready to do the best work of their lives and welcome the world this summer. Expectations are high and we won't disappoint." The 2012 Olympics in London will be great for many who watch (on TV, or in-person for the lucky ones with tickets). We will watch great performances and see missed opportunities. But will it ‘Inspire a generation?’ For me this will demonstrated in 2 ways With more athletes involved in sport staying the course, reaching international standards in competition (European, World, Olympic championships)   With more people becoming more active, reaching the Government / NHS DoH targets for activity, halting the increase in sedentary lifestyles and associated ill-health in the general (non-sporting) population Whil...

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...