The Olympic Games have the power to inspire the world.

The abilities these athletes possess, including mental toughness, physicality, and athleticism, are qualities we look up to and want to somehow mirror in our own lives. I did exactly that. This entire week I’ve been more motivated when completing assignments, lifting weights, and eating.

When watching figure skating you will often hear side comments such as, ‘Look at how strong and graceful she is.’ When you watch speed skating you might hear, ‘Their quadriceps are the size of an average person’s waist.’

These world-class athletes are looked up to in a number of ways. They are mentally strong, competitive, healthy, and 100 percent committed to what they do.

While today athletes’ performances continue to inspire us, their sponsorships have the ability to utterly confuse us because some of these companies do not symbolize good health.

The official restaurant of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics was McDonald’s, which is the world’s largest food chain, according to the official website of the Olympic Movement.

McDonald’s sponsored Olympic skier David Wise, and after he won the gold medal in Sochi he tweeted the fast food chain, according to Forbes.

Considering a double quarter pounder with cheese is 750 calories with 1280 mg of sodium, as seen on McDonald’s nutrition guide, it’s doubtful Olympic athletes consume fast food on a daily basis.

Impressionable children quickly adopt the ideology of, ‘If an elite athlete competing at the Olympics is eating McDonald’s, then it can’t be that bad for me.’

Why wouldn’t they think that? The athletes they admire set an example for children who want nothing more than to follow in their footsteps.

Children are too young to understand this, and therefore they are susceptible to confusing and misleading advertisements that may end up influencing their diet.

McDonald’s is not the only Olympic sponsor that leaves audiences misinformed.

Vicks DayQuil and NyQuil sponsored various athletes such as Ted Ligety at the most recent Olympic Games.

Many over-the-counter cold and flu medications, including Vicks DayQuil and NyQuil, are on the Prohibited Substances and Methods wallet card, according to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Having a product advertised by athletes who cannot legally consume it represents a hypocritical ideology.

Coca-Cola is the world’s largest beverage company, and its insanely high sugar content of 33 grams per can, according to USADA, is in no way good for consumers let alone athletes.

However, the sponsorships that big companies provide for athletes and the Olympics are needed.

Without these sponsors, the Olympics would look very different.

These Fortune 500 corporations pay an estimated $100 million simply to become a major Olympic sponsor, according to CNN Money.

In the future, I wish that athletes have the opportunity to be sponsored by brands that better reflect their lifestyle.

I remain in admiration and respect of the athletes who competed at Sochi’s Winter Olympics. Try to embody and replicate the success of the athletes because after all, that is what the Olympics are supposed to be about.

-Sarah Steger is a sophomore communication major from Perth, Australia. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.