LONDON -- Usain Bolt is the world’s fastest man, and he would like to thank a few people who’ve helped make it possible. Ashton Eaton is the best all-round athlete in the world, and he’d love to do it, too. Same goes for world high-jump champion Jesse Williams; the world’s strongest woman, Holley Mangold; and nearly every other athlete gathered here to make the Olympics the world’s grandest sports show.

But they can’t.

As in, they’re prohibited. Cut off. Banned. They could be kicked out of the Olympics for talking about the companies that help pay their bills through sponsorships — unless those companies also happen to be an official Olympic sponsor.