The secret of Australia's sporting success has finally been cracked - it's playing in yellow. 

The secret was discovered by British psychologists who said that yellow was an arousing colour. 

They said that simply being surrounded by it, including wearing yellow-tinted glasses, could inspire improved performances. 

The psychologists tested their hypothesis on members of the British athletic team, giving runners a helmet coloured either yellow or green on the inside. 

The yellow team reduced their average training times over certain distances by up to half a second, while the green team runners were slower than their average training times by the same margin. 

Psychologist David Lewis Green said green caused the competitors to over-relax, while yellow, appeared to encourage a creative and positive mental attitude.

© NewsRoom 2001 (www.ihug.co.nz) - another stolen article.