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'''Gatorade''' is an American brand of sports-themed beverage, apparel, and food products, built around its signature line of [[sports drink]]s. The drink is currently manufactured by [[PepsiCo]] and is distributed in over 9080 countries.<ref name=factsheetGatorade>{{cite web|title=Gatorade Fact Sheet |url=http://www.pepsico.com/Download/Gatorade_Company_Fact_Sheet.pdf |publisher=PepsiCo, Inc. |access-date=January 24, 2011 |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221172620/http://pepsico.com/Download/Gatorade_Company_Fact_Sheet.pdf |archive-date=December 21, 2010 }}</ref> The beverage was first developed in 1965 by a team of researchers led by [[Robert Cade|Robert Cade]]. It was originally made for the [[Florida Gators|Gators]] at the [[University of Florida]] to replenish the [[carbohydrate]]s that the school's student-athletes burned and the combination of water and [[electrolyte]]s that they lost in sweat during vigorous sports activities.
countries.<ref name=factsheetGatorade>{{cite web|title=Gatorade Fact Sheet |url=http://www.pepsico.com/Download/Gatorade_Company_Fact_Sheet.pdf |publisher=PepsiCo, Inc. |access-date=January 24, 2011 |year=2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221172620/http://pepsico.com/Download/Gatorade_Company_Fact_Sheet.pdf |archive-date=December 21, 2010 }}</ref> The beverage was first developed in 1965 by a team of researchers led by [[Robert Cade|Robert Cade]]. It was originally made for the [[Florida Gators|Gators]] at the [[University of Florida]] to replenish the [[carbohydrate]]s that the school's student-athletes burned and the combination of water and [[electrolyte]]s that they lost in sweat during vigorous sports activities.
Originally created at University of Florida in 1962, then produced and marketed by [[Stokely-Van Camp]] in 1965, the Gatorade brand was purchased by the [[Quaker Oats Company]] in 1983, which, in turn, was bought by PepsiCo in 2000.<ref name="abcnews.go.com">{{Cite web|title = Gatorade ready to pump up marketing efforts|url = https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3929315&page=1|website = ABC News|date = 2007-11-30|access-date = 2015-10-16}}</ref> As of 2010, Gatorade is PepsiCo's fourth-largest [[brand]], on the basis of worldwide annual retail sales.<ref name=annrpt2010>{{cite web|title=2010 Annual Report |url=http://pepsico.com/annual10/downloads/PepsiCo_Annual_Report_2010_Full_Annual_Report.pdf |work=PepsiCo, Inc. |access-date=July 27, 2011 |page=16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906155910/http://www.pepsico.com/annual10/downloads/PepsiCo_Annual_Report_2010_Full_Annual_Report.pdf |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref> It competes with [[The Coca-Cola Company|Coca-Cola]]'s [[Powerade]] and [[Vitaminwater]] brands worldwide, and with [[Lucozade]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. Within the United States, Gatorade accounts for approximately 67.7% of market share in the sports drink category.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2021/03/25/Gatorade-Powerade-BodyArmor-How-PepsiCo-and-Coca-Cola-are-playing-in-the-sports-drink-category|title=Gatorade, Powerade & BodyArmor: How PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are playing in the sports drink category|website=beveragedaily.com|date=March 25, 2021 }}</ref>
[[File:Gatorade Early Testing Photo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[University of Florida]] football player Chip Hinton testing Gatorade 1965, pictured next to the leader of its team of inventors, [[Robert Cade]].]]
Gatorade was created in 1965, by a team of scientists at the [[University of Florida|University of Florida College of Medicine]], including [[Robert Cade]], [[Dana Shires]], Harry James Free, Freja Mackworth Gee, and Alejandro de Quesada.<ref name=born>{{cite web|url=http://www.gatorade.com/history/default.aspx|title=History|publisher=Gatorade|access-date=April 16, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415161147/http://www.gatorade.com/history/default.aspx|archive-date=April 15, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Following a request from [[Florida Gators football]] head coach [[Ray Graves]], Gatorade was created to help athletes by acting as a replacement for body fluids lost during physical exertion. The earliest version of the beverage consisted of a mixture of water, fruit extract [[sodium]], [[sugar]], [[potassium]], [[phosphate]], and lemon juice.<ref name=gatoradehistprofile>{{cite web|last=Kays|first=Joe|title=Gatorade - The Idea that Launched an Industry|url=http://www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v08n1/gatorade.html|publisher=University of Florida Research|access-date=January 24, 2011|year=2003}}</ref> Ten players on the University of Florida football team tested the first version of Gatorade during practices and games in 1965, and the tests were deemed successful. On the other hand, star [[quarterback]] [[Steve Spurrier]] said, "I don't have any answer for whether the Gatorade helped us be a better second-half team or not... We drank it, but whether it helped us in the second half, who knows?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Rovell|first=Darren|title=First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon|date=September 2, 2005|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=0814410952|pages=28}}</ref> Nonetheless, the football team credited Gatorade as having contributed to their first [[Orange Bowl]] win over the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets]] in 1967, at which point the drink gained traction within the athletic community. Yellow Jackets coach [[Bobby Dodd]], when asked why his team lost, replied: "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference."<ref name="inventions">{{cite web|title=Football Inventions That Shaped the Modern Game|url=http://www.inventhelp.com/Football_Inventions.asp|date=September 6, 2007|access-date=September 6, 2007}}</ref>
The University of Florida researchers initially considered naming their product "Gator-Aid", but eventually settled on "Gatorade". [[Darren Rovell]] notes in his history of Gatorade, ''First in Thirst'', "the doctors realized that they probably shouldn't use the 'Aid' suffix, since that would mean that if the drink were ever marketed, they would have to prove that it had a clear medicinal use and perform clinical tests on thousands of people."<ref>{{cite book|last=Rovell|first=Darren|title=First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon|date=September 2, 2005|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=0814410952|pages=24}}</ref> Gatorade co-inventor [[Dana Shires]] explained, "We were told that you couldn't use that because the Food and Drug Administration prohibited that. That would classify it as something other than a cola or soft drink, so we changed it to ade."<ref>{{cite web|last=Shires|first=Dana|title=Dana Leroy Shires, Jr.|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00006306/00001/17x?search=gatorade|publisher=University of Florida Digital Collection|access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref>
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