In reply to Robert Durran:
Okay - my 2p here. Firstly, I don't understand all of the hosility towards the OP - it was a perfectly valid thing to challenge. Or perhaps that's just the nature of UKC?
There are the semantics of it, which the pedants and nerds will delight in calling to witness, and then there is the real issue itself.
The distinction these companies are trying to make is between your average bimbling punter who talks the talk, buys the gear, but doesn't actually train properly, has little talent and aspires one day to lead HVS - versus their sponsored 'professional' (disclaimer: may not necessarily mean they make 100% of their living from it) climbers/skiers who are dedicated, focused, at/near the top of their disciple etc.
When I hear 'our sponsored athletes', I don't suddenly imagine Jessica Ennis (okay, I'll admit it - I'm often imaginging Jessica Ennis anyway), so in that respect I don't think it's misleading, no. I do however agree with Robert that it's just a bit naff. I don't imagine for a second that, when asked at a dinner party "what do you do?", Chris Sharma replies "Oh, I'm a professional althete.". No, he'd say "Well man, I'm totally psyched to be a rock climbing professional, dude... It's rad!" or words to that effect.
I'd agree with those people who argue that to be a professional climber at the top of your game you need to train, be fit etc etc and in so doing you'd probably become a good athlete (e.g. Ueli Steck) - but this is as a result of him being a pro rock climber. The bit that is being sponsored is the climber - if he suddenly got 'the fear' and took to being a middle of the road 400 metre runner I doubt that Mountain Hardwear woudl carry on sponsoring him.
On Ueli's page, here:
http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Ueli-Steck---Alpinist/Athlete_Ueli_Steck,de... he falls under their main heading 'Althetes', but nowhere in his entry does it call him an althlete. So, the question is, what should they call their sponsored professionals instead of althetes? My suggestion: Sponsored professionals...
Ben