McDonald's -- Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games

_Timmeh_

Why laugh?

ninerbuff

It's funny how all these people are commenting on Olympic athletes when they really have NO IDEA on their diets. Well let me give you some accurate info.
Many of the athletes use up energy well into 6,000+ calories per day. They train an average of 5 hours (some even more) per day at their sport and then there's physical training (lifting, plyo work, flexibility, etc.) for another couple of hours. It would be difficult to eat "clean" an support an 6,000 calorie daily expenditure with 7-10 hours of it training hard. So guess where they get a lot of their calories from? Junk food. Yep. You heard it right.

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thefreebiemom

All that means is that McDonald's is helping pay for things the US team needs. Nothing wrong with that. Subway is sponsoring the US team as well. Coke and McDonald's have put money towards the Olympics for as long as I can remember. The McD's commercials I have seen all had some regular person eating the food or drinking the special drinks and trying to "coach" the athlete to win gold. Its something to do with the peel the sticker game they have on some of their healthier food right now. I have also seen one of the female athletes in a Pantene hair commercial too. They aren't just making money for themselves they are making money for the team and its costs like transportation having families come along, feeding and boarding them, uniforms, etc.

JustJennie1

So? Who says they don't eat there? Like inner buff pointed out they are burning a lot of calories with their exercise and they have to refuel some how.

McDonalds is a HUGE chain so why shouldn't they sponsor events such as the Olympics? They can most certainly afford the price to advertise and be a sponsor.

marketdimlylit

Mcdonalds

delaney056

It's funny how all these people are commenting on Olympic athletes when they really have NO IDEA on their diets. Well let me give you some accurate info.
Many of the athletes use up energy well into 6,000+ calories per day. They train an average of 5 hours (some even more) per day at their sport and then there's physical training (lifting, plyo work, flexibility, etc.) for another couple of hours. It would be difficult to eat "clean" an support an 6,000 calorie daily expenditure with 7-10 hours of it training hard. So guess where they get a lot of their calories from? Junk food. Yep. You heard it right.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

And what says you know the diet of an Olympic athlete? Do tell.

DMZ_1

This is not abnormal, McDonald's ponied up the money to be called the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games.

Athletes have endorsed fast food restaurants over time. Michael Jordan was doing McDonald's ads back in the 1980s for example.

michellekicks

It's funny how all these people are commenting on Olympic athletes when they really have NO IDEA on their diets. Well let me give you some accurate info.
Many of the athletes use up energy well into 6,000+ calories per day. They train an average of 5 hours (some even more) per day at their sport and then there's physical training (lifting, plyo work, flexibility, etc.) for another couple of hours. It would be difficult to eat "clean" an support an 6,000 calorie daily expenditure with 7-10 hours of it training hard. So guess where they get a lot of their calories from? Junk food. Yep. You heard it right.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Actually there is a lot of information available online about the US Olympic Training Centre and it's nutrition science and meals. The facility was featured on a Biggest Loser episode if memory serves and this recent article talks about the types of foods served there. They actually just replicated this kitchen in London to serve the US athletes during the Olympics:

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/nutrition/Americas-meal-ticket-20120801.html

"Moreman and a staff of 23 work with five sports nutritionists to design menus, from a protein-rich recovery shake that will help a wrestler make weight to a calorie-dense dinner that will ensure a swimmer replaces the 12,000 calories burned that day."

I'm sure the sponsored athletes are not replacing their "12,000 calories burned that day" with McDonalds non-food. Maybe when not training. Maybe when taking their kids out after a soccer game. Maybe when on a road trip with buddies. But not when training and not when competing. Everything in moderation, sure. But moderation is a relative term.

kaotik26

Ironic isn't it?!:ohwell:

rhonniema

From as far back as I can remember McDonald's & Coca Cola has always sponsored the Olympics.

zimfour

I guess its mine turn to chime in.....McDonalds is at the Olympics to MAKE MONEY to endorse all those ATHLETES, MCds feeds their families and spectators..... I guess as they say in London.....CHEERS MATE!!!!!!!

ericgAU

I actually dont mind McD's sponsoring the Olympics. Dont care too much for their food these days but not enough is said about the work and funding that goes towards community events, charities and the like. I think we should all be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. You don't have to like the food to appreciate their social contribution.

sathor

I can't vouch for the Olympians, but what is the harm in a 1,200 sandwich after a long bike ride? For my weight, that is a 20 mile bike ride. (1,200 is a sonic burger, its under 400 for the filet-o-fish or a McDouble, but that sonic burger...)

Once after a 30 mile ride I had a double chicken sandwich.

Of course, those addicted to world of warcraft shouldn't eat that way, but some of us can. I think the guys who did the road race in the olympics can eat damn well whatever they want.

michellekicks

I can't vouch for the Olympians, but what is the harm in a 1,200 sandwich after a long bike ride? For my weight, that is a 20 mile bike ride. (1,200 is a sonic burger, its under 400 for the filet-o-fish or a McDouble, but that sonic burger...)

Once after a 30 mile ride I had a double chicken sandwich.

Of course, those addicted to world of warcraft shouldn't eat that way, but some of us can. I think the guys who did the road race in the olympics can eat damn well whatever they want.

Of course they can. And, as I said, on occasion they probably do. I ran 20km this morning and burned over 1500 calories. Sometimes I'll eat my favorite restaurant sandwich, which is 1140 calories (mind you, I usually only eat half now) after a run like that... but I'm not a contender for a medal at the Olympics. If I were, I'm sure I'd make sure I made up those 1500+ calories with something that was going to do my body some good.

I wish we had some Olympic athletes in here to set the record straight.

Chipmaniac

During the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles McDonald's had a game where you get cards with each purchase that had an Olympic event. If an American won the gold, you get a free Big Mac, silver gets you a free fry and bronze a free drink. The only problem was McDonald's did not anticipate that the Soviet Union would pull its athletes from the games to protest America doing the same in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Americans cleaned up that year due to our main rival not even competing. I was a young teenager and ate McDonald's for free the entire summer. There was even one swimming event where two Americans won the gold and thus I received two Big Macs. I actually developed a BigMac addiction due to that promotion which I didn't really kick until I became a vegetarian a decade later.

Chipmaniac

My guess is that the "Organic Lettuce Growers of America" probably don't have a lot money to sponsor the Olympics. Since the "clean eaters" associate anything processed, despite the fact that almost all food is processed in some way, with unhealthy I can't imagine a food-related corporate sponsor that would satisfy that crowd. Subway is close to being healthy depending on how you design your sandwich but alas it has sodium and the anti-sodium crowd would crow about it.

miss_september

Not trying to stir the pot, but in a pre-olympics interview they did on NBC with Ryan Lochte, he admitted to "living in the McDonalds" in Bejing in 2008. He has since changed his diet and cut out junk food...so there will always be the one "renegade" who eats there. I also noticed that McDonalds is specifically offering their "win free stuff" promotion only on items that are less than 400 calories, so at least they are making an effort to encourage people to gravitate to their version of "healthier" options.

ninerbuff

It's funny how all these people are commenting on Olympic athletes when they really have NO IDEA on their diets. Well let me give you some accurate info.
Many of the athletes use up energy well into 6,000+ calories per day. They train an average of 5 hours (some even more) per day at their sport and then there's physical training (lifting, plyo work, flexibility, etc.) for another couple of hours. It would be difficult to eat "clean" an support an 6,000 calorie daily expenditure with 7-10 hours of it training hard. So guess where they get a lot of their calories from? Junk food. Yep. You heard it right.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

And what says you know the diet of an Olympic athlete? Do tell.

I've trained college athletes (last stint was a GMU) and know the amount of calories they have to eat. I currently train young athletes now in a variety of sports and just the swimmers alone (teenagers) easily burn up to 6000 calories a day. Kids this age usually don't like to eat at all when in sports, so IF they ate nothing but "clean" food, then they'd be eating all day long and that's simply not the case.
Read up on all the pasta and pizza that Michael Phelps eats. Heck even Janet Evans scarfed down on Snickers (not just one) before all her meets and during.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

slkehl

It's funny how all these people are commenting on Olympic athletes when they really have NO IDEA on their diets. Well let me give you some accurate info.
Many of the athletes use up energy well into 6,000+ calories per day. They train an average of 5 hours (some even more) per day at their sport and then there's physical training (lifting, plyo work, flexibility, etc.) for another couple of hours. It would be difficult to eat "clean" an support an 6,000 calorie daily expenditure with 7-10 hours of it training hard. So guess where they get a lot of their calories from? Junk food. Yep. You heard it right.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

And what says you know the diet of an Olympic athlete? Do tell.

I've trained college athletes (last stint was a GMU) and know the amount of calories they have to eat. I currently train young athletes now in a variety of sports and just the swimmers alone (teenagers) easily burn up to 6000 calories a day. Kids this age usually don't like to eat at all when in sports, so IF they ate nothing but "clean" food, then they'd be eating all day long and that's simply not the case.
Read up on all the pasta and pizza that Michael Phelps eats. Heck even Janet Evans scarfed down on Snickers (not just one) before all her meets and during.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I remember reading about all the crap Phelps eats. Doesn't seem to slow him down!

Laces_0ut

dont kid yourselves. elite athletes eat fast food.