Gold
Jerry Colangelo
The architect behind USA Basketball's reinvention should take a bow. In three short years, he transformed the program, working with coach Mike Krzyzewski to get notoriously selfish NBA players to create what could be considered the first national hoops team.

Silver
Bob Costas
Throughout the Olympics, he's been praised for his interview skills, but they never shined brighter than during his time with IOC President Jacques Rogge over the weekend. From Joey Cheek to human rights, he pushed the IOC leader on some of the issues that NBC neglected to tackle during the 17 days of the Games.

London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag.

Bronze
USA Track & Field
The U.S. team managed to top its medal count from Athens behind bright spots like men's decathlon gold and women's discus gold. But its performance will be marred by baton drops in the men's and women's 4x100-meter relays, and by barely winning the gold-medal count over Jamaica, Russia and even Kenya. Is it time for the organization to reinvent itself like USA Basketball did?

Tin
London
Was that shot from Buckingham Palace underwhelming or what? London's contribution to the Closing Ceremony in Beijing included a bland interview with Michael Phelps, an odd performance by Jimmy Page on top of a bus and a mayor who couldn't even button his jacket.

The Closing Ceremony in Beijing not only marked the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics but also the final Olympics that Peter Ueberroth would attend as chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Ueberroth’s term comes to an end this fall when he will transition into a non-voting role on the USOC’s board of directors. As the Beijing Games wrapped up, he sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Tripp Mickle to talk about the impact of the 2008 Olympics, the future of the USOC and the future of the Olympics.    Read More  >

NBC through Saturday night was averaging a 16.2/28 national rating and 27.7 million viewers for its prime-time coverage of the Beijing Games, up 6.6 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, from a 15.2/27 and 24.9 million viewers for the same period at the 2004 Athens Games. Through Saturday night, the network had drawn 211 million viewers for the Games, surpassing the 209 million viewers for the 1996 Atlanta Games to become the most-viewed Olympics in U.S. history.    Read More  >

For the first time in decades, Anheuser-Busch’s Tony Ponturo sits at the head of a global media and sports marketing division in flux. InBev recently completed an agreement to purchase the American beer company, which is expected to bring changes to Anheuser-Busch.

Ponturo spoke to SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Tripp Mickle about those potential changes and the impact of the 2008 Olympics while he was on the ground in Beijing.    Read More  >

Two top corporate hospitality and sports management experts said Beijing’s new airport functioned well Monday as thousands of customers and others left the Olympic city after the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.    Read More  >

It’s never easy for television networks to cover the Olympics when they don’t own the rights. When a network pays $894 million for the rights to broadcast the Beijing Games, like NBC did, it gets and enforces exclusive access to athletes for on-camera interviews at stadiums.

The U.S. Olympic Committee tries to make athletes available to non-rightsholders within a few hours of competition, but a failure to do so with three medal-winning American fencers on the Games’ opening Saturday rubbed ESPN the wrong way.    Read More  >