Watch The Interview

Recognizing a gap in studies of Olympic marketing ahead of the 2008 Games, Asian marketing agency R3 and Chinese media research firm CSM Media Research launched an independent tracking and research division. Its quarterly studies have shed light on which Olympic sponsors are winning and losing on the ground in China. R3 Principal Greg Paull, who’s leading those studies, sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Tripp Mickle to talk about the results.    Read More  >

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” is trying to book all of the U.S. medalists from the 2008 Olympic Games for a special in September, Olympic agents say.

Three Olympic agents who represent 2008 medal-winning athletes, said that the show contacted them and asked if their athletes would be interested in appearing on a show with all of the 2008 Olympic medalists. To date, the U.S. has won 102 medals in Beijing.    Read More  >

As I watch NBC’s coverage of the Olympic track and field competition two things become crystal clear. First, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is to track what Michael Phelps is to swimming.

Secondly, track analyst Ato Boldon has become a real star for NBC with his enthusiasm, knowledge and colorful style, which lights up the TV screen.    Read More  >

NBC is averaging a 16.9/29 national rating and 29.0 million viewers through 13 prime-time telecasts of the Beijing Olympics, up 7.0 percent over a 15.8/27 for the same period at the 2004 Athens Games. The 16.9 rating is the best prime-time mark through the second Wednesday for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since a 17.9/34 for the 1992 Barcelona Games.    Read More  >

Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee chairman John Furlong said Friday, “We’re no longer second in line. In a few days, we’ll be first in line.”

The hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics are feeling the uptick in interest. Communications Vice President Renee Smith-Valade said traffic to the VANOC Web site has increased fivefold since Aug. 8, when the Beijing Games began.    Read More  >

Steven Lopez (left) with siblings Mark, Diana and Jean

U.S. taekwondo athlete Steven Lopez followed gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games and the 2004 Athens Games, the only two previous Olympiads in which taekwondo had been contested, with a bronze medal today in the men's 80 kg welterweight weight class. Steven and brother Mark, who won the silver medal in the men's 68 kg weight class, and sister Diana, who won the bronze medal in the women's 57 kg weight class, are repped by Ann Bleiker and her brother, Cecil Bleiker, of ABC Sports Management.    Read More  >

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of tourism and sports management at George Washington University, arrived in Beijing on Aug. 4 to watch her 14th Olympic Games. She has been sharing her thoughts during the past three weeks with SBJ/SBD and today offers some reflections of her experiences from the final few days.    Read More  >

Gold
China TV rights windfall
For all the criticism the IOC has faced for bringing the Olympics to China, it's hard to ignore the payoff it will see by converting 1.3 billion people into fans of the Olympics. The net result for the bottom line is expected to be a 2,000 percent increase in TV rights fees from China, bringing CCTV's contribution to the IOC's bottom line from $18.5 million to more than $400 million.

Silver
London
Is anyone else getting excited about London 2012? The city plans to provide a glimpse of what its Games could be this Sunday with a Trafalgar Square ceremony that will feature Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, soccer star David Beckham and aquaman Michael Phelps. God save the Queen.

IOC President Jacques Rogge (right)

Bronze
IOC President Jacques Rogge
Good sportsmanship is important. No one will disagree with that. But criticizing Usain Bolt for indulging in celebratory dancing after he broke the 200-meter world record seemed a bit out of place for the head of an organization that's been largely silent when it comes to China's limits on press freedom and the right to protest during the last two weeks.

Tin
NBC's "live" graphic
For the last two weeks, NBC has said that it can't remove the "Live" graphic from its delayed West Coast broadcasts. Now comes word from the company that supplies NBC's on-air graphic that taking the "Live" graphic down can be done "at the source and during the event," USA Today reported. Sounds simple enough, so why has NBC resisted making the change?

More than 2 million people have visited Coca-Cola’s 25 Olympic experience centers across China since the Games began, said Scott McCune, Coca-Cola’s vice president of worldwide sports, entertainment and licensing.    Read More  >

Looking to build on the interest in swimming sparked by the Beijing Games, USA Swimming and NBC Sports announced a partnership sure to make a splash. The partnership will result in the broadcast of the 2009 USA Swimming National Championships and the 2009 World Swimming Championships on NBC Sports and Universal Sports, NBC's newly minted Olympic channel.

NBC will provide weekend coverage of the 2009 World Championships and Universal Sports, the channel it co-owns with InterMedia Partners, will offer midweek coverage.    Read More  >