Commentary: Does Blue Uniform Color Enhance Winning Probability in Judo Contests?

Abstract

The commented paper Dijkstra et al. (2018) is an exhaustive work which sheds light on the role of the white and blue judogi (judo outfit) in judo contests. The importance of colored uniforms has been proven in other sports (i.e., Attrill et al., 2008; Falcó et al., 2016; Krenn et al., 2017). During the recent 2017 World Cup races in Stavanger, Norway, several speedskating teams changed their traditional colors to different shades of blue, since it was believed that “blue is faster.” There is no scientific evidence to back up this statement, but the skaters, in fact, felt faster.