# Australia New Colors

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-new-colors/34920>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 28, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-new-colors/34920 "2000-09-28T20:28:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-new-colors/34920/1 "2000-09-28T20:28:17Z")

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My wife noticed that the Australian atheletes in the Olympics are all wearing yellow-and-green themed uniforms. Why is this? Their flag is mostly blue with white stars and red in the “Union Jack” area. Did they pick the Olympic rings’ colors minus their flag’s colors?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-new-colors/34920/2 "2000-09-28T20:38:19Z")

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Australian athletes have been wearing yellow for quite a while.

Sometimes the colors on the flag don’t have much to do with the athlete’s colors. The Italian soccer team wears blue and the Germans sometimes wear green. You won’t find those colors on those countries’ flags either.

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**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-new-colors/34920/3 "2000-09-28T20:57:07Z")

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Green and gold are Australia’s national colors. From [this](http://www.winjobs.com/country/australia/aushis.htm) site:

> [@](#):
>
> Australia’s national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, is a Revised Version of a late 19th-century patriotic song. It was declared the national anthem in April 1984, replacing God Save the Queen, which was designated the royal anthem. In the same year, Australia officially adopted green and gold as its national colors.

I wondered the same thing during the opening ceremony. Now if someone knows why people were wearing what looked like green and gold socks on their hands at said ceremony, I’d love to know.