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The 1998 Olympic Winter Games are a year away
and once again McDonald's(R) is gearing up to help feed Olympic athletes from around the
world. As the Official Restaurant of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald's will
operate a restaurant in the Olympic Village during the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, and serve
traditional favorites such as the Big Mac(R) sandwich, Chicken McNuggets(R), World Famous
Fries(R) and breakfast items like the Egg McMuffin sandwich.
"Athletes loved McDonald's food at our Olympic Village restaurants during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta," said David Green, McDonald's senior vice president, International Marketing. "In fact, they enjoyed visiting and eating at McDonald's even more than we anticipated." At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, McDonald's served hundreds of thousands of meals to athletes representing 197 countries at five restaurants in the Olympic Village. Favorites included: 98,000 Big Mac sandwiches, 97,000 Double Cheeseburgers and 173,000 orders of fries. Athletes also made Chicken McNuggets a hit by enjoying 135,000 orders - nearly 15 times McDonald's projection. "Athletes know they'll enjoy a familiar taste of home at McDonald's, no matter where they're competing - particularly when they're in a far-off country," said Michael Payne, marketing director of the International Olympic Committee. McDonald's is a Worldwide Sponsor for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games as well as the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia (September 15 - October 1). As a Worldwide Sponsor, McDonald's has exclusive global Olympic marketing rights for the restaurant category. McDonald's commitment to the Olympic Games began nearly 30 years ago when the company airlifted hamburgers to the U.S. athletes competing in the 1968 Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble, France, after hearing they were homesick for McDonald's food. McDonald's is the world's leading restaurant organization with more than 20,000 restaurants in 101 countries. Approximately 84 percent of McDonald's U.S. restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees. |