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.

Fireworks and an appearance by international soccer star David Beckham highlighted the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The eight-minute Olympic hand-over to 2012 Summer Games host London focused on an iconic red, double-decker bus. Modern dancers moved in and around the bus until the moment that the vehicle’s roof opened and out of it emerged a smiling Beckham.    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  >

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  >

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?

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  >

Speedo is one of Laura Wilkinson's main sponsors.

Laura Wilkinson, in her last Olympics, heads into today's 10-meter platform finals in sixth place, having won gold in the event in the 2000 Sydney Games. While diving certainly is among the sports that get little U.S. exposure between Olympics, it could end up being one of the crucial battlegrounds in the unofficial U.S.-China medal count rivalry, and a strong finish could catapult Wilkinson to the forefront of U.S. Olympic coverage.

Wilkinson’s agent, Octagon’s Janey Miller, described Speedo as Wilkinson’s “biggest sponsor, and her most important, because their commitment to the sport of diving has allowed Laura to stay in the sport.”    Read More  >

Gold
Usain Bolt
No male sprinter had won the 100 and 200 meters in the same Olympics since 1984, but Usain Bolt did that and more when he broke Michael Johnson's 200-meter world record. The long-limbed Jamaican (who has become a poster boy for Puma) put on a spectacular show that lent some pizzazz to an otherwise ho-hum week at the track.

Silver
NBC ad sales
Riding a tide of impressive ratings, NBC's ad sales division has sold $25 million in advertising since the Olympics began and $15 million in the past seven days. The network expects more to be sold between now and the closing ceremony on Sunday, a great sign for the network.

Bronze
The weather
The rain in Beijing put a damper on two of NBC's live programs last night, delaying the start of the women's beach volleyball game and forcing BMX racing to be rescheduled to Friday. What happened to China's ability to control the weather?

Tin
Protest zones
What's the point of creating a protest zone if you have to apply to get permission to protest there? It came to light that two Chinese women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, made five visits to the police this month to get permission to protest inadequate compensation for their home's demolition. Now news arrives that they've been sentenced to "re-education through labor." Did China forget that the world's watching?